Emily Remler

Dreaming with Pick in Mouth
In the mid 80's a unique listening opportunitydescended on the jazz lovers of Charlottesville Virginia.Emily Remler and Larry Coryell stayed in Charlottesvile fora short time in order to develop material for a album thatthey planned. They held spontaneous sessions at a localwatering hole, often with no announcement. They did notintroduce themselves when onstage, but did introduce the"sitters," those local musicians who often sat in with them.

This sometimes led to rather unusual audience dynamics.The bar was popular with University students, whofrequently hadn't got the word on who was playing.Sometimes they would play "quarters" loudly and ignore theactivity on stage. Once I overheard the following. "Hey, whoare these people, anyway? Not bad, for locals."

This is amusing on many levels. They are numerousexpatriot New Yorker jazz locals here who are stars or nearstars. At times it seems like everybody here is from NewYork or New Jersey anyway.

These sessions were rich and we listeners felt rich beyondanything we deserved. The mood swung everywhere: therewere feisty moments when things didn't click. Sometimessomeone walked off stage. It was a rare opportunity to seetwo musicians putting together the material for an album,live.

John D'Earth (Trumpet), Robert Jospe (Drums) and anumber of local guitarists (including Tim Reynolds, who laterplayed with Dave Matthews) and guitar students sat induring these sessions.

Emily Remler was a rising-star jazz guitarist in the 1980swhose style, influenced by Wes Montgomery, fused hardswing and lyricism with Brazilian and other forms of music,making her one of the most compelling newcomers around.Remler did not let the notoriously sexist barriers of the jazzworld deter her from her passion for playing music, andearly on she landed a contract with Concord Records.

Her ultimate obstacle, however, proved to be fatal: anaddiction to heroin.
Remler died in Australia on May 4, 1990 at the age of32.

Remler's music remains, she recorded seven albums ofhard bop, jazz standards and fusion guitar, East toWest, Take Two, and This Is Me,collaborations with Larry Coryell, Ray Brown, and SusannahMcCorkle.

Born in New York City, Emily began to play the guitar at theage of ten. Initially inspired by hard rock and other popularstyles of music, she experienced a musical epiphany duringher studies, from 1976 to 1979, at the Berklee College ofMusic in Boston, Massachusetts. She began to listen tosuch legendary jazz greats as Wes Montgomery, MilesDavis and John Coltrane. She took up jazz with a ferociousintensity, practising almost constantly, and never lookedback.

After leaving Berklee, she performed in blues and jazz clubsin New Orleans, working with bands such as FourPlay, LittleQueenie and the Percolators before beginning herrecording career in 1981. She was championed by guitargreat Herb Ellis, who referred to her as "the new superstarof guitar".

In an interview with People magazine, she once said ofherself:
I may look like a nice Jewish girl from New Jersey,but inside I’m a 50-year-old, heavyset black man with a bigthumb, like Wes Montgomery.
(People Mag. 1982)

Recording for the famous Concord label, Emily's albumsshowcase the diverse influences of a fast developing artistwho quickly developed a distinctive style through versions ofstandard tunes and genres. Her first album as a bandleader Firefly won immediate acclaim and her bopguitar on the follow up Take Two was equally wellreceived. Transitions and Catwalk traced theemergence of a more individual voice, with many strikingoriginal tunes, while her love of Wes Montgomery shonethrough on the stylish East to Wes.

When the rhythm section is floating, I'll float too, and I'llget a wonderful feeling in my stomach. If the rhythm sectionis really swinging, it's such a great feeling, you just want tolaugh ! —Emily Remler.

In addition to her recording career as a band leader andcomposer, Emily played in blues groups, on Broadway andwith artists as diverse as Larry Coryell, with whom sherecorded an album entitled Together, and singerRosemary Clooney. She played for the Los Angeles versionof the show Sophisticated Ladies from 1981 - 1982and produced two popular guitar instruction videos. She alsoworked as guitarist for Astrud Gilberto.

In 1985 she won the ‘Guitarist Of The Year’ award inDownBeat Jazz Magazine’s international poll. In 1988 shewas 'Artist in Residence' at Duquesne University and in1989 received Berklee's Distinguished Alumni award.

She married Jamaican jazz pianist Monty Alexander in1981, the marriage ending in 1984. Two tribute albums wererecorded after her untimely death, Just Friendsvolume one and two, featuring contributions from Herb Ellis,David Benoit, Bill O’Connell and David Beberg among manyothers. In 2006 the Skip Heller Quartet recorded a songcalled "Emily Remler" in her memory.

When asked how she wanted to be remembered sheremarked:

Good compositions, memorable guitar playing and mycontributions as a woman in music…. but the music iseverything, and it has nothing to do with politics or thewomen’s liberation movement.