As part of a mission to promote US-UAE mutual understanding, the award-winning Trio Chicago & Friends will be performing in the Emirates this week. A special invite-only performance will also be hosted by the US Ambassador to the UAE, Michael H Corbin, today during An Evening of American Music to also mark the Embassy's new season of programmes. The five-member group, specialising in jazz, blues, American folk and classics, will travel to various locations as part of a cultural outreach tour sponsored by the Public Affairs Section of the U.S Embassy in Abu Dhabi. Since the mid 1990s, Trio Chicago & Friends have promoted cultural understanding through music and discussions around the world, for which they received wide recognition including a letter of appreciation and support from the US president Barack Obama while he was a US senator, in 2006. The UAE tour will also include performances in the Capital's New York and Zayed Universities, and in Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah and The Western Region, until Thursday.