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Emily Remler

Dreaming with Pick in Mouth
In the mid 80's a unique listening opportunity descended on the jazz lovers of Charlottesville Virginia. Emily Remler and Larry Coryell stayed in Charlottesvile for a short time in order to develop material for a album that they planned. They held spontaneous sessions at a local watering hole, often with no announcement. They did not introduce 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, who frequently hadn't got the word on who was playing. Sometimes they would play "quarters" loudly and ignore the activity on stage. Once I overheard the following. "Hey, who are these people, anyway? Not bad, for locals."

This is amusing on many levels. They are numerous expatriot New Yorker jazz locals here who are stars or near stars. At times it seems like everybody here is from New York or New Jersey anyway.

These sessions were rich and we listeners felt rich beyond anything we deserved. The mood swung everywhere: there were feisty moments when things didn't click. Sometimes someone walked off stage. It was a rare opportunity to see two musicians putting together the material for an album, live.

John D'Earth (Trumpet), Robert Jospe (Drums) and a number of local guitarists (including Tim Reynolds, who later played with Dave Matthews) and guitar students sat in during these sessions.

Emily Remler was a rising-star jazz guitarist in the 1980s whose style, influenced by Wes Montgomery, fused hard swing 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 jazz world deter her from her passion for playing music, and early on she landed a contract with Concord Records.

Her ultimate obstacle, however, proved to be fatal: an addiction to heroin.
Remler died in Australia on May 4, 1990 at the age of 32.

Remler's music remains, she recorded seven albums of hard bop, jazz standards and fusion guitar, East to West, Take Two, and This Is Me, collaborations with Larry Coryell, Ray Brown, and Susannah McCorkle.

Born in New York City, Emily began to play the guitar at the age of ten. Initially inspired by hard rock and other popular styles of music, she experienced a musical epiphany during her studies, from 1976 to 1979, at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. She began to listen to such legendary jazz greats as Wes Montgomery, Miles Davis and John Coltrane. She took up jazz with a ferocious intensity, practising almost constantly, and never looked back.

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Radio & Podcasts

Jazz Virgos Lovie Austin, Emily Remler and More Welcome the Equinox

Read "Jazz Virgos Lovie Austin, Emily Remler and More Welcome the Equinox" reviewed by Mary Foster Conklin


This week the show features new releases from pianists Marcin Wasilewski with Joe Lovano, Miki Yamanaka, saxophonists Sharel Cassity and Harry Allen with birthday shoutouts to guitarist Emily Remler (pictured), pianists Lovie Austin, Kait Dunton, Helen Sung, Bobby Short, vocalists Wesla Whitfield, Nicolas Bearde, Catherine Russell, Giacomo Gates, saxophonist Vi Redd and more. Thanks for listening and please support the artists you hear by purchasing their music during this time of lockdown. Playlist Emily Remler “Blues for Herb" ...

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Radio & Podcasts

Distaff Strummers

Read "Distaff Strummers" reviewed by Patrick Burnette


Purely because Pat ran across a classic artist and a brand new find (for him, at least) who are both women guitarists, we decided to build a whole show around artists fitting that description. Which lets us cover four very different albums while still leaving Mike time to complain about classic rock eminence Kansas and celebrate Sia. Playlist Discussion of Emily Remler's album East to Wes (Concord) 2:25 Discussion of Leni Stern's album When Evening Falls (Self-Produced) 15:00 ...

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Video / DVD

Emily Remler: Firefly/Take Two

Emily Remler: Firefly/Take Two

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Sometime in 1984, WKCR-FM's Bird Flight host Phil Schaap introduced me to guitarist Emily Remler. I was an early fan, and she was playing at the West End Bar near Columbia University where I had just completed grad school. As I recall, the place was half full and I was sitting in a booth when Phil graciously brought her over between sets. What I remember most were her eyes. They seemed vulnerable, like a doe's. Looking at her, it was ...

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Recording

New MCG Jazz CD by Guitarist Sheryl Bailey, Due for Release Feb. 2, Pays Tribute to Emily Remler

New MCG Jazz CD by Guitarist Sheryl Bailey, Due for Release Feb. 2, Pays Tribute to Emily Remler

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

A New Promise, the sixth and latest CD by Sheryl Bailey, represents something of a homecoming for the New York-based guitarist. It's her first collaboration with producer Marty Ashby and the MCG Jazz label, which is affiliated with the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild in Sheryl's hometown of Pittsburgh. And the project is a tribute to guitarist Emily Remler (1957-1990), whom Bailey first saw perform at the University of Pittsburgh Jazz Festival in 1984 and whose originality and musicianship deeply impressed and ...

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Music Industry

Emily Remler: A Musical Remembrance

Emily Remler: A Musical Remembrance

Source: All About Jazz


Todd Mosby
guitar
Kerilie McDowall
guitar, electric

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Firefly

Concord Jazz
1992

buy

Transitions

Concord Jazz
1992

buy

This Is Me

Concord Jazz
1990

buy

East To Wes

Concord Jazz
1988

buy

Videos

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