Guitar trio to release debut album at festival

New virtuoso trio Trifield Guitar Project is readying its debut album “Montana Suite,” a genre-defying guitar tour-de-force available worldwide Monday on TK Label.

Canadian classical guitarist Karl Marino, Israeli blues and rock guitarist Rami Halperin, and American-born jazz and rock guitarist Alexander Sill met by chance last summer in Montana at the Crown of the Continent Guitar Festival, an invite-only workshop for guitarists. Excited by their unique chemistry, the trio set to work on “Montana Suite” with New Zealand-born bassist Ben Shepherd and drummer Wesley Ritenour, son of jazz guitar legend Lee Ritenour. Grammy-winner Neil Citron recorded the album.

The centerpiece of “Montana Suite” is its title track, a 15-minute longform composition written for the group's forthcoming performance at the Crown of the Continent Guitar Festival Tuesday. Other performers at the festival include Pat Metheny and Robben Ford.

“Montana Suite” also features other new compositions from the group’s members and a rendition of Ralph Towner and John Abercrombie’s formidable “Juggler’s Etude.”

Proceeds from “Montana Suite” CD sales will be donated to Crown of the Continent Guitar Foundation, which provides scholarships to the weeklong Crown of the Continent Guitar Festival workshop for Montana guitar students and teachers, and supports other nonprofit organizations dedicated to preserving the natural wonders of Northwest Montana.

For more information, visit  http://trifieldguitarproject.com and http://cocguitarfoundation.org/.