Emily Remler

Emily Remler - Retrospective, Vol. 1: Standards - 1991 - Concord Jazz

Emily Remler's death at age 32 from a heart attack (certainly not helped by her frequent use of heroin) was a shock to the jazz world, and a sad waste. She was just beginning to emerge from the Wes Montgomery influence and develop her own voice. Remler began playing guitar when she was ten, attended Berklee (1976-1979), and recorded as a leader for the first time in 1980. She played with the L.A. version of the show Sophisticated Ladies (1981-1982) and in 1985 had a duo with Larry Coryell, but otherwise mostly worked as a leader with her own small groups. After recording bop-oriented dates for Concord, she had a contemporary set for Justice, and toured with David Benoit before her sudden death. © Scott Yanow © 2012 Rovi Corp | All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/artist/emily-remler-mn0000800814

This is the first of two CDs issued by Concord Jazz compiling some of the best tracks from Emily Remler's sessions for that label. Cut short at a far too early age by a heart condition while touring in Australia, Remler had all the talent necessary to carve herself a niche in the jazz world as a premier jazz guitar interpreter and performer. Retrospective, Vol. 1 is probably the superior of the two volumes, as it includes, among other gems, an enticing unaccompanied rendition of "Afro Blue." Remler had the ability to be expressively warm with a romantic ballad, as on "In a Sentimental Mood," but she excelled on tunes that allowed her to bring out her hard bop credentials, especially in the company of similarly tough-minded rhythm sections. She displays those credentials on several tracks, such as "Hot House" and "Daahoud," where she is joined by the inestimable Hank Jones on piano and Marvin "Smitty" Smith on drums. "Del Sasser" is the sole representative from that intriguing album she made with trumpet player John D'earth. On this cut, D'earth plays muted trumpet under a clean, straight-lined Remler guitar with a rather unusual scrimpy, but pleasing, sound as the result. Indeed an appropriate testimonial to a fine guitarist, this album is recommended for those who want an overview of the work by Remler without having to buy all the albums from whence the selections came. © Dave Nathan ©2012 Rovi Corp | All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/album/retrospective-vol-1-standards-mw0000262616

It is amazing just how many talented musicians have lived fast and died young. From Jimi Hendrix to Charlie Parker to Patsy Cline, the 20th century was full of incredibly talented artists whose lives were cut short by their self-destructive personalities. Emily Remler should have had a long and distinguished career. The late great jazz guitarist, Herb Ellis, once referred to Emily as "the new superstar of guitar". Instead, Emily died of a heart attack at 32 from heroin abuse. As Ian Dury said, "Wot a f***ing waste". Check out her "Firefly" album on this blog, and buy her magnificent "East to Wes" album. Emily shows you how to play the blues @ http://neopixeos.weebly.com/how-to-play-the-blues.html
"When the rhythm section is floating, I'll float too, and I'll get a wonderful feeling in my stomach. If the rhythm section is really swinging, it's such a great feeling, you just want to laugh." - Emily Remler [All tracks @ 320 Kbps: File size = 141 Mb]

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

1 Daahoud - Clifford Brown 5:16
2 How Insensitive - Norman Gimbel / Antonio Carlos Jobim / Vinícius de Moraes 8:27
3 Strollin' - Horace Silver 5:28
4 Hot House - Tadd Dameron 5:41
5 In Your Own Sweet Way - Dave Brubeck 4:51
6 Joy Spring - Clifford Brown 5:44
7 Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise - Oscar Hammerstein II / Sigmund Romberg 8:11
8 Afro Blue - Mongo Santamaría 2:22
9 Del Sasser - Sam Jones 6:44
10 In a Sentimental Mood - Duke Ellington / Manny Kurtz / Irving Mills 7:47

MUSICIANS

Emily Remler - Guitar
Larry Coryell - Guitar
Buster Williams, Don Thompson, Bob Maize, Eddie Gomez - Bass
Hank Jones, James Williams - Piano
Marvin "Smitty" Smith, Jake Hanna, Terry Clarke, Bob Moses - Drums
John D'earth - Trumpet

BIO (WIKI)

Emily Remler (September 18, 1957 – May 4, 1990) was an American jazz guitarist who rose to prominence in the 1980s. She recorded seven albums of hard bop, jazz standards and fusion guitar. Born in New York City, Remler began to play the guitar at the age of ten. Initially inspired by rock artists such as Jimi Hendrix and Johnny Winter as well as other popular styles of music, she experienced a musical epiphany during her studies from 1974 to 1976 at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. She began to listen to such legendary jazz greats as Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, Pat Martino, Charlie Christian, Miles Davis and John Coltrane and took up jazz with a ferocious intensity, practicing almost constantly and never looked back. After graduating Berklee at age 18 she started her professional career touring around the USA. Remler's first significant and formative step as a fledgling professional musician was to settle in New Orleans where she played in blues and jazz clubs working with bands such as FourPlay and Little Queenie and the Percolators before beginning her recording career in 1981. She was championed by guitar great Herb Ellis, who referred to her as "the new superstar of guitar". Ellis introduced her to the world at the Concord, CA Jazz Festival in 1978. In an interview with People magazine, she once said of herself: "I may look like a nice Jewish girl from New Jersey, but inside I’m a 50-year-old, heavyset black man with a big thumb, like Wes Montgomery." ~People Mag. 1982~ Recorded for the famous Concord label, Remler's albums showcase the diverse influences of a fast-developing artist who quickly attained a distinctive jazz style on the guitar through her interpretations of jazz standards and her own compositions. Her first album as a band leader, Firefly, won immediate acclaim and her bop guitar on the follow-up, Take Two, was equally well received. Transitions and Catwalk traced the emergence of a more individual voice, with many striking original tunes, while her love of Wes Montgomery shone through on the stylish East to Wes. In addition to her recording career as a band leader and composer, Remler played with artists as diverse as Larry Coryell, with whom she recorded an album entitled Together, and the singer Rosemary Clooney. She played on Broadway for the Los Angeles version of the show 'Sophisticated Ladies' from 1981 to 1982 and produced two popular guitar instruction videos. She also toured for several years in the early eighties as guitarist for Astrud Gilberto. In 1985, she won the ‘Guitarist Of The Year’ award in Down Beat magazine’s international poll. In 1988, she was 'Artist in Residence' at Duquesne University and, in 1989, received Berklee's Distinguished Alumni award. She married Jamaican jazz pianist Monty Alexander in 1981, the marriage ending in 1984. Her first guitar was her elder brother's Gibson ES-330, and she played a Borys B120 hollow body electric towards the end of the 1980s. Her acoustic guitars included a 1984 Collectors Series Ovation and a nylon string Korocusci classical guitar that she used for playing bossa nova. When asked how she wanted to be remembered she remarked: "Good compositions, memorable guitar playing and my contributions as a woman in music…. but the music is everything, and it has nothing to do with politics or the women’s liberation movement." She appealed to all audiences with her wide understanding of all forms of jazz. She gained respect from fellow musicians and critics because of her dedication, enthusiasm and remarkable skill. Remler, who was a heroin addict, died of heart failure at the age of 32 at the Connells Point home of musician Ed Gaston, while on tour in Australia. Two tribute albums were recorded after her death, Just Friends volume one and two, featuring contributions from Herb Ellis, David Benoit, Bill O'Connell and David Bromberg among many others. In 2006 the Skip Heller Quartet recorded a song called "Emily Remler" in her memory.