“...ground-breaking...unmistakable beauty...radiance at every turn...”
—Jim Macnie, Down Beat

“Emery is one of the world’s finest guitarists and possesses an encyclopedic jazz vocabulary as a technician and composer...staggering technical virtuosity, remarkable creative spirit...”
—Glenn Astarita, All About Jazz

“...the guitarist succeeds in something astonishing: shaping modernistic sound dimensions in an extraordinarily delightful way and making them accessible to a wider audience...”
—Bert Noglik, Stereo

“Mercurial, poised and thoroughly satisfying...Mr. Emery is a fleet guitarist with a personal touch and sound.”
—Robert Palmer, The New York Times

"...innovative and imaginative and utterly distinctive."
- Richard Cook and Brian Morton, The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, 5th Ed.

"...alongside John McLaughlin, Emery is one of the masters of improvising on the acoustic guitar...he is also an inventive, complex composer."
- James Hale, Downbeat

“In his fingers he focuses the tradition of the guitar as a whole, creating up-to-date and swinging forms of modern jazz with a brilliant technique... stylistically unmistakable... great variation...”
—Benno Bartsch, Jazz Podium

“The most consistently fascinating and virtuosic improvising guitarist in the world... consistently brilliant.”
—Carl Baugher, The Tracking Angle

“His warp speed, multi-note bursts move faster than the ear and yet remain perfectly legible. Always an awe-inspiring guitarist.”
—Jon Garelick, Boston Phoenix

“Emery has the master’s gift...his solo lines, usually fast and fluent, were filled with slashing self-commentary and flashing contrasts.”
—John Litweiler, Chicago Tribune

“Guitarist James Emery is a fiercely virtuosic player who handles the acoustic guitar with such range and control that comparison with his peers is difficult, since he doesn’t have many. His 1988 solo LP for FMP, Exo Eso, is one of the most ambitious, exciting and ultimately successful recordings I have ever heard by a guitarist.”
—Carl Baugher, Cadence

"Emery has the master's gift...his solo lines, usually fast and fluent, were filled with slashing self-commentary and flashing contrasts."
- John Litweiler, Chicago Tribune

“Guitarist James Emery was amazing, building solos that were part Julian Bream, part Django Reinhardt, part Charlie Parker.”
—Jesse Hamlin, San Francisco Chronicle

"Guitarist James Emery is a fiercely virtuosic player who handles the acoustic guitar with such range and control that comparison with his peers is difficult, since he doesn't have many. His 1988 solo LP for FMP, Exo Eso, is one of the most ambitious, exciting and ultimately successful recordings I have ever heard by a guitarist."
- Carl Baugher, Cadence

“Virtuosic and highly individualistic.”
—Lothar Trampert, Gitarre und Bass

“While it’s too glib to compare him to Segovia, he does, similarly and brilliantly, use the acoustic guitar for things originally conceived for quite different instruments - in this case for high-powered, free-ranging improvisation.”
—Neil Tesser, The Chicago Reader

“Mr. Emery is an authentic groundbreaker, an innovator on his instrument.”
—Paul Razou, Le Monde

“A superb musician...viscerally exciting and sonically spectacular.”
—James Wierzbicki, St. Louis Post Dispatch

“James Emery is a sound alchemist of the highest order, plus he has chops to burn - definitely different and daring.”
—Bill Milkowski, Guitar World

“A unique musical personality...dazzling technique...highly personal and original.”
—Dave Langzettel, Portland Evening Press

“One of the true pioneers of guitar playing in the world.”
—Richard Chon, Buffalo Evening News

“James Emery is special.”
—Tom Terrell, Jazz Times