Emily Remler (September 18, 1957 – May 4, 1990) was an American
jazz guitar
Jazz guitar may refer to either a type of electric guitar or a guitar playing style in jazz, using electric amplification to increase the volume of acoustic guitars.
In the early 1930s, jazz musicians sought to amplify their sound to be hear ...
ist, active from the late 1970s until her death in 1990.
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', May 8, 1990. Accessed November 25, 2017. "Emily Remler, a jazz guitarist in the be-bop tradition, died of a heart attack on Friday while on tour in Sydney, Australia, the Associated Press reported yesterday. She was 32 years old. Ms. Remler was born in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., and started playing folk and then rock guitar." Remler began guitar at age ten. She listened to pop and
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
guitarists like
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...
and
Johnny Winter
John Dawson Winter III (February 23, 1944 – July 16, 2014) was an American singer and guitarist. Winter was known for his high-energy blues rock albums and live performances in the late 1960s and 1970s. He also produced three Grammy Award-win ...
. At the
Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...
in the 1970s, she listened to jazz guitarists
Charlie Christian
Charles Henry Christian (July 29, 1916 – March 2, 1942) was an American swing and jazz guitarist.
Christian was an important early performer on the electric guitar and a key figure in the development of bebop and cool jazz. He gained nati ...
,
Wes Montgomery
John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery (March 6, 1923 – June 15, 1968) was an American jazz guitarist. Montgomery was known for an unusual technique of plucking the strings with the side of his thumb and his extensive use of octaves, which gave him a dist ...
,
Herb Ellis
Mitchell Herbert Ellis (August 4, 1921 – March 28, 2010), known professionally as Herb Ellis, was an American jazz guitarist. During the 1950s, he was in a trio with pianist Oscar Peterson.
Biography
Born in Farmersville, Texas, and raised ...
,
Pat Martino
Pat Martino (born Patrick Carmen Azzara; August 25, 1944 – November 1, 2021) was an American jazz guitarist and composer.
Biography
Martino was born Patrick Carmen Azzara in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, to father Carmen "Mickey" ...
, and
Joe Pass
Joe Pass (born Joseph Anthony Jacobi Passalaqua; January 13, 1929 – May 23, 1994) was an American jazz guitarist. Pass is well known for his work stemming from numerous collaborations with pianist Oscar Peterson and vocalist Ella Fitzgerald, an ...
.
Career
Remler settled in New Orleans, where she played in
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
and
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
clubs, working with bands such as Four Play and Little Queenie and the Percolators before beginning her recording career in 1981. She was praised by jazz guitarist
Herb Ellis
Mitchell Herbert Ellis (August 4, 1921 – March 28, 2010), known professionally as Herb Ellis, was an American jazz guitarist. During the 1950s, he was in a trio with pianist Oscar Peterson.
Biography
Born in Farmersville, Texas, and raised ...
, who referred to her as "the new superstar of guitar" and introduced her at the
Concord Jazz Festival
The Concord Jazz Festival is an annual event that was established in 1969 in Concord, California.
The festival was launched by Carl Jefferson, a car dealer and jazz enthusiast, who managed to get a group of friends to support the concept. The cit ...
in 1978.
In a 1982 interview with ''
People
A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...
'' magazine, she said: "I may look like a nice Jewish girl from New Jersey, but inside I'm a 50-year-old, heavy-set black man with a big thumb, like
Wes Montgomery
John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery (March 6, 1923 – June 15, 1968) was an American jazz guitarist. Montgomery was known for an unusual technique of plucking the strings with the side of his thumb and his extensive use of octaves, which gave him a dist ...
."
Her first album as a band leader, ''
Firefly
The Lampyridae are a family of elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, or glowworms for their conspicuous production ...
'', gained positive reviews, as did '' Take Two'' and ''
Catwalk
A fashion show ( French ''défilé de mode'') is an event put on by a fashion designer to showcase their upcoming line of clothing and/or accessories during a fashion week. Fashion shows debut every season, particularly the Spring/Summer and Fa ...
''. She recorded ''
Together
''ToGetHer'' (, aka Superstar Express) is a 2009 Taiwanese drama starring Jiro Wang of Fahrenheit, Rainie Yang and George Hu. It was produced by Comic International Productions ( 可米國際影視事業股份有限公司) and directed by Linzi P ...
'' with guitarist
Larry Coryell
Larry Coryell (born Lorenz Albert Van DeLinder III; April 2, 1943 – February 19, 2017) was an American jazz guitarist.
Early life
Larry Coryell was born in Galveston, Texas, United States. He never knew his biological father, a musician. He w ...
. She participated in the Los Angeles version of ''
Sophisticated Ladies
''Sophisticated Ladies'' is a musical revue based on the music of Duke Ellington. The musical ran on Broadway in 1981–83, earning 2 awards and 8 nominations at the 35th Tony Awards.
Production
''Sophisticated Ladies'' opened on Broadway at th ...
'' from 1981 to 1982 and toured for several years with
Astrud Gilberto
Astrud Gilberto (; born Astrud Evangelina Weinert, March 29, 1940) is a Brazilian samba and bossa nova singer. She gained international attention in the 1960s following her recording of the song "The Girl from Ipanema".
Biography
Astrud Gilbert ...
. She also made two guitar instruction videos.
In 1985, she won Guitarist of the Year in ''
Down Beat
' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chi ...
'' magazine's international poll. In 1988, she was artist in residence at
Duquesne University
Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit ( or ; Duquesne University or Duquesne) is a private Catholic research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded by members of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, Duquesne first opened as the Pittsbu ...
and the next year received the Distinguished Alumni award from Berklee.
Bob Moses Robert Moses (1888–1981) was an American city planner.
Robert Moses may also refer to:
* Bob Moses (activist) (1935–2021), American educator and civil rights activist
* Bob Moses, American football player in the 1962 Cotton Bowl Classic
* Bob M ...
, the drummer on ''Transitions'' and ''Catwalk'', said, "Emily had that loose, relaxed feel. She swung harder and simpler. She didn't have to let you know that she was a virtuoso in the first five seconds."Tzvi Gluckin. "Forgotten Heroes: Emily Remler." ''Premier Guitar'' July 29, 201 (''Premier Guitar'', "Forgotten Heroes: Emily Remler") Retrieved September 4, 2014
Remler married Jamaican jazz pianist
Monty Alexander
Montgomery Bernard "Monty" Alexander (born 6 June 1944) is a Jamaican jazz pianist. His playing has a Caribbean influence and bright swinging feeling, with a strong vocabulary of bebop jazz and blues rooted melodies. He was influenced by Louis ...
in 1981; the marriage ended in 1984. Thereafter, she had a brief relationship with Coryell following her first divorce.
Her first guitar was her brother's
Gibson ES-330
The Gibson ES-330 (1959-1972) is a thinline hollow-body electric guitar model produced by the Gibson Guitar Corporation. It was first introduced in 1959 and the guitar had the same dimensions as the ES-335.
History
Sales of Gibson’s Electric S ...
. She played a Borys B120 hollow-body electric towards the end of the 1980s. Her acoustic guitars included a 1984 Collectors Series
Ovation
The ovation ( la, ovatio from ''ovare'': to rejoice) was a form of the Roman triumph. Ovations were granted when war was not declared between enemies on the level of nations or states; when an enemy was considered basely inferior (e.g., slaves, p ...
and a nylon-string Korocusci
classical guitar
The classical guitar (also known as the nylon-string guitar or Spanish guitar) is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string instrument with strings made of gut or nylon, it is a precursor o ...
that she used for
bossa nova
Bossa nova () is a style of samba developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is mainly characterized by a "different beat" that altered the harmonies with the introduction of unconventional chords and an innovativ ...
.
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
The women's liberation movement (WLM) was a political alignment of women and feminist intellectualism that emerged in the late 1960s and continued into the 1980s primarily in the industrialized nations of the Western world, which effected great ...
."
Death
Remler bore the scars of her longstanding
opioid addiction
Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a substance use disorder characterized by cravings for opioids, continued use despite physical and/or psychological deterioration, increased tolerance with use, and withdrawal symptoms after discontinuing opioids. Op ...
, which is believed to have contributed to her death. She died of heart failure at the age of 32 at the
Connells Point
Connells Point is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Connells Point is 20 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district and is part of in the local government area of the Georges River Counc ...
home of musician Ed Gaston, while on tour in Australia.
Remler is buried in Block 4, Row 2, Grave 18 (Section 2, Field of Ephron) at
New Montefiore Cemetery
New Montefiore Cemetery is a Judaism, Jewish cemetery located in West Babylon, New York.
History
Montefiore Cemetery Corporation had been maintaining Montefiore Cemetery in Springfield Gardens, Queens since 1908. The corporation bought 250 acres ...
, New York.
Tributes
The album ''Just Friends: A Gathering in Tribute to Emily Remler, Volume 1'' (Justice Records JR#0502-2) was released in 1990, and ''Volume 2'' (JR#0503-2) followed in 1991. Performers from these two albums included guitarists
Herb Ellis
Mitchell Herbert Ellis (August 4, 1921 – March 28, 2010), known professionally as Herb Ellis, was an American jazz guitarist. During the 1950s, he was in a trio with pianist Oscar Peterson.
Biography
Born in Farmersville, Texas, and raised ...
,
Leni Stern
Leni Stern (born 28 April 1952) is a German jazz guitarist and singer.
Early life
Stern was born Magdalena Thora, in Germany on 28 April 1952. She was interested in music from an early age, beginning piano studies at the age of six and takin ...
Steve Masakowski
Steve Masakowski (born September 2, 1954) is jazz guitarist, educator, and inventor. He invented the guitar-based keytar and the switch pick, and has designed three custom-built seven-string guitars. He developed an approach to playing the guit ...
; bassists
Eddie Gómez
Edgar Gómez (born October 4, 1944) is a Puerto Rican jazz double bassist, known for his work with the Bill Evans Trio from 1966 to 1977.
Biography
Gómez moved with his family from Puerto Rico at a young age to New York, where he was raised. ...
,
Lincoln Goines
Lincoln Goines (born 1953) is a double bassist and bass guitarist from Oakland, California.
Biography
A mainstay of the New York City jazz/Latin/studio scene since the early 1980s and noted for his versatility and fluid style, Goines' extensive ...
, and
Steve Bailey
Steve Bailey is an American bassist. He is the chair of the bass department at Berklee College of Music.
Career
Bailey began playing bass guitar at age 12 and started playing fretless bass after he ran over his fretted Stuart Spector with his ...
; drummer
Marvin "Smitty" Smith
Marvin "Smitty" Smith (born June 24, 1961) is an American jazz drummer and composer.
Marvin Smith was born in Waukegan, Illinois, where his father, Marvin Sr., was a drummer. "Smitty" was exposed to music at a young age, receiving formal musica ...
; pianists
Bill O'Connell
Bill O'Connell (born August 22, 1953 in New York City) is a jazz pianist, educator, and bandleader. He is most associated with Latin jazz and hard bop. He studied piano at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, but has mostly lived in NYC or Long I ...
Nelson Rangell
Nelson Rangell (born March 26, 1960) is an American smooth jazz musician and composer from Castle Rock, Colorado. Although he is known for his work with the tenor, alto, and soprano saxophone, his primary instrument is the piccolo, which he beg ...
, among others.
David Benoit wrote the song "6-String Poet", from his album '' Inner Motion'' ( GRP, 1990), as a tribute to Remler.
The 1995 book ''Madame Jazz: Contemporary Women Instrumentalists'' by Leslie Gourse includes a posthumous chapter on Remler, based on interviews conducted while she was alive.
In 2002, West Coast guitarist
Skip Heller
Fred "Skip" Heller (born October 4, 1965) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Although active in many different types of music as a performer, producer, and historian coming out of the Philadelphia jazz scene, and in spite of local ...
recorded with his quartet a song called "Emily Remler" in her memory, released as track #5 on his record ''Homegoing'' (
Innova Recordings
Innova Recordings is the independent record label of the non-profit American Composers Forum based in St. Paul, Minnesota. It was founded in 1982 to document the winners of the McKnight Fellowship offered by its parent organization, the Minneso ...
).
Jazz guitarist
Sheryl Bailey
Sheryl Bailey (born May 20, 1966) is an American jazz guitarist and educator. She teaches guitar at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.
Biography
Bailey grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and started playing guitar at 13. At first she was ...
's 2010 album ''A New Promise'' was a tribute to Emily Remler. Aged 18, Bailey first saw Remler perform, at the
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...
Jazz Festival in 1984 - she was inspired to take her own guitar studies. Bailey said "She paved the way for me.... I really wanted to hear Emily's person in me when I played. It meant a lot to me to do this tribute and pay homage to her and to say thank you."Guitarist Sheryl Bailey's "A New Promise" CD to Be Released February 2 by MCG Jazz. January 8, 2010. By Terry Hinte Prweb.com. Retrieved 31 December 2019.] On the album, Bailey collaborated with Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Jazz Orchestra and producer Marty Ashby on eight tracks, including three composed by Remler ("East to Wes", "Mocha Spice", and "Carenia").