ELLENVILLE – It is the beauty and the charm of the small upstate NY hamlet — the mountains themselves, as well as the people — that makes the creative juices of famed trombonist Roswell Rudd flow.

Kerhonkson is home to the octogenarian jazz giant and his ethnomusicologist producer and life partner, Verna Gillis, and has been for some time now. But it's not where his story starts.

'The Incredible Honk,' otherwise known as Roswell Hopkins Rudd, Jr., was born November 17, 1935 in Sharon, Connecticut. And from his earliest memories, he recalls, his home was filled with music.

His dad would play the drums, sometimes alongside records but other times with friends who'd arrive for jam sessions.

"There was an atmosphere of spontaneous music," Rudd said. And by ten, the younger Rudd wanted in on the action. He said he started out by dancing along with the musicians and eventually turned to scat singing, or adding vocal improvisations. In elementary school, he picked up the French horn but when he found it didn't fit into his dad's ensemble, he picked up the trombone...and hasn't put it down since.

Rudd studied at Yale University, joining a trad-jazz ensemble called Eli's Chosen Six. He played everything from Dixieland to bebop to swing. During the latter 1950s, early 1960s, the free jazz movement, Rudd moved to New York City and played alongside the likes of pianist Cecil Taylor and saxophonists Archie Shepp and Steve Lacy. The avant-garde jazz movement, in other words, was in full swing, and Roswell Rudd a part of it.

Sometime after, Rudd began teaching ethnomusicology at Bard College and the University of Maine before returning to the Woodstock area. He used to play in a resort band at the Granit Hotel in Kerhonkson, where he'd play with one Ronnie Finck, the father of musician Matthew Finck, who will be playing alongside Rudd this coming Sunday afternoon, April 23 at the Ellenville Public Library and Museum.

There's a musical vibe to Kerhonkson, Rudd said, which he calls home quite definitively.

"There are great musicians to work with and rehearse with," he said. It's also about the audience, and how their feedback keeps his music going. "It's not just the performers. Matthew is really a virtuoso and this concert will be a wonderful exchange of jazz standards, improvisation and, well, simply beautiful. People will remember us and our interpretation. We're excited to be doing this; we've been getting together on a regular basis to work out things. It's been a great experience."

It's all set to get up and running at 2 p.m. But get there early; after all, Roswell Rudd's a legend — check out his Wikipedia page!

"I think people will love what we're doing here," Rudd said. "We've been keeping it to ourselves."

The library is located at 40 Center Street in Ellenville. Call 647-5530 for more information.