Emily Remler

[iLu]

Greetings to the jazz community,
i am simply an ordinary jazz fan that is in the process of creating a website in honor of the music and legacy of one of the great ladies of jazz guitar, Emily Remler. if anyone has searched her name online, you will agree that the links avaliable about her are limited and shallow in scope, and are not adequate of reflecting her life or her contributions to jazz.
i ask that anyone who knew Emily and has a nice memory to share, an opinion of her work or place in jazz music history, or even a coveted photograph to offer (new images are so hard to come by), would please contact me about using those remembrances on my yet unpublished site, so that those who still seek her name, will find her memory alive and well.
thanks,
mbenter@mac.com

[Dr Dave]

I saw Emily Remler twice, once in New York at what is now Birdland and once at a now-defunct club in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She was a great player--she had amazing time and a great melodic gift. She was also very clearly a troubled person--both times I saw her, while her playing was topnotch, see seemed tired and depressed. Her death, reported as heart failure but almost certainly the result of a heroin overdose, was doubly tragic because she'd just finished recording "This Is Me," which had finally freed her from the straightahead straitjacket she'd worn while recording for Concord.

It's been 15 years, and I still miss her presence, and I'm sorry she never got to find out where "This Is Me" might have taken her, both stylistically and commercially.

I'd recommend getting in touch with Larry Coryell (with whom she recorded an album of duets) and Leni Stern, both of whom were close to Emily.

[rocketjk]

During my days as a jazz radio producer at the NPR affiliate in New Orleans (during the 80's), I got a chance to interview Emily Remler once when she came through town, just after her first Concord LP had broken nationally. She came out to the studio on a Saturday afternoon and we recorded an hour segment--talking and playing records and having a relaxed chat about music. I was determined not to fall into the cliched trap of asking her what it was like being a woman in the man's world of jazz instrumentalist (which was more the case 20 years ago than it is now, happily). Every print interview I'd read with her dwelled on that topic at length. After the interview, she indeed thanked me for not going down that path with her for the umpteenth time. At any rate, she was delightful and informative and went way out of her way to be gracious.

[chasfinney]

Before her death, I interviewed Emily along with Larry Coryell when they appeared at the Rebecca Cohn Theater at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. The resulting cassette tape has been kicking around my house ever since then, and I've been wondering if family or friends would want it. I'm willing to arrange to make a copy if someone is interested.

[dizmonk]

absolutely! How about coverting it to mp3?

Originally Posted by chasfinney

Before her death, I interviewed Emily along with Larry Coryell when they appeared at the Rebecca Cohn Theater at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. The resulting cassette tape has been kicking around my house ever since then, and I've been wondering if family or friends would want it. I'm willing to arrange to make a copy if someone is interested.

[Noj]

There's some wonderful videos of Emily on youtube. I just watched this beautiful solo rendition of "Afro Blue."

[Chip Tingle]

Two players you might get in touch with are Daduka de Fonseca and Jay Ashby. While I haven't seen them for years, I remember both of them speaking of how much they dug playing with Emily.

Cheers,