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<!-- #thumb --> <p>I would like to dedicate this article to my Father-in-Law, Otis Glazier, who passed away on October 23, 2013.</p>
<p>Imagine that you are a talented, hard working and schooled guitarist looking to land a gig with a band. Despite having the skill, you are told by one band leader after another that they couldn’t hire you. The reason? “Because you’re a woman.” This is not a hypothetical scenario or a fictional nightmare. For the late trailblazing jazz guitarist, Emily Remler, this was a cruel reality.</p>
<p>Maybe it was being raised in a hard working Englewood, New Jersey home….or having a family that believed in achieving and encouraging Emily and her siblings to pursue individual ideas. Was it the access to music and instruments? It could have been the household philosophy that if you apply yourself, if you search for creative ends, you will succeed.* Probably all of the above. What seems clear is that Emily was undeterred by the bias and skepticism of the male dominated music business and doubters of her ability. She used her natural talent, hard work and instrumental prowess to silence the doubters. In an interview with Gene Lees, she addressed the issue of sexism in the industry:</p>
<p>“I’m not into sitting and crying about, I’m into doing. I never was bitter about the fact that there are so many band leaders who have told me face to face that they couldn’t hire me because I was a woman, or that they handled me with kid gloves because they figured my time wasn’t strong. You have to believe in yourself. It never did occur to me to stay in one place and bitch about this, about how I was never given a chance. I think it gives me more merit-to get really good, so good that it doesn’t matter: to get so good that you surpass it.”</p>
<p>Emily could not read music when she graduated from high school at age 16 and knew nothing about jazz. But she did spend a lot of time practicing and playing. The crossroad for Emily was to enter the Rhode Island School of Design with an emphasis in graphic design or Berklee College of Music. She chose the latter.</p>
<p>“I did sculpting and drawings and had a choice between Rhodes and Berklee because I was frustrated with art. I couldn’t get it the way wanted it. Music, at least you get more chances and a little more time and the companionship of other Musicians. I went to Berklee because they accepted me. It was easy to get in, but staying in was hard.” Her time at Berklee would have the greatest impact on who she became as an artist. Plus, it would be the first place she heard jazz. “It turned me around. Initially, all I heard was a bunch of notes, so I know what it’s like when people hear Jazz for the first time. When I first heard Miles, and Coltrane, I didn’t like them, they scared me. But when I first heard Charlie Christian with Benny Goodman, and Paul</p>
<p>Desmond, alto saxophonist with Dave Brubeck, I could hear the melody and relate to it. Desmond got me into jazz, and then when I heard Wes Montgomery and Pat Metheney, I was totally taken.” It became clear to her that being a jazz guitarist was her goal. It was her epiphany. She had found her purpose. At 18, Emily graduated from Berklee.</p>
<p>The late Jazz guitar legend Herb Ellis would cross paths with the 19 year old Remler and was very impressed.* “I was working in New Orleans in 1977, when this young girl, she couldn’t have been more that 20, came and asked me for a lesson. I asked her to play something for me, and when she did, I couldn’t believe what I heard. Forget about “girl”, she’s going to be one of the greatest jazz guitar players who ever lived. She can do anything.” Emily was asked to perform at that year’s Concord Jazz Festival with the “Great Guitars”: Herb Ellis, Charlie Byrd, Joe Pass, Tal Farlow, Barney Kessel and bassist, Ray Brown. It was at this point that her career went into warp drive as well as her musicianship.</p>
<p>“I had really just screwed around at Berklee, I didn’t concentrate that hard, I was a child, a total beginner. I came out not playing that great but with a lot of knowledge of chords and theory. I would say that Berklee was good for me in theory and harmony and ear training, but when I got to New Orleans, I was forced to get better and better. I played all these show gigs and jazz gigs, and I had 25 students. I was forced to come up to a certain level of playing. It was great. There was a modern jazz thing happening down in there. It was much hipper that New York because the people want to be a part of it. In New York, it was very serious, in New Orleans, everybody jumps up and down, there’s an R&B kind of feeling. I sort of stole that rich culture and applied it to my own music. If I had stayed in Boston, I’d be playing <i>Giant Steps</i> like a madman-like everybody else.”</p>
<p>In 1981, at age 23, Emily recorded her first album as a leader, <i>Firefly</i>. While it wasn’t considered groundbreaking by critics, it was a successful effort nonetheless. She was recognized as “Woman of the Year” by jazz historian and music critic, Leonard Feather.* There was more to come.* In 1983, her second project, <i>Take Two</i>, hit the streets. Next came <i>Transitions</i> in 1983, marking a change in Remler’s music and compositional skills. Success, however, can have consequences. The hectic touring schedules of Emily and her husband, Jamaican pianist Monty Alexander reeked havoc on their marriage of two years, with divorce shattering their world in 1984.</p>
<p>The music continued.* A project featuring all original material, <i>Catwalk</i>, was released the same year.* She appeared on Ray Brown’s <i>Soular Energy</i> and <i>in</i> 1985, a duo project with longtime friend and guitarist, Larry Coryell, <i>Together</i>. Touring and other appearances as a featured guest kept the bass rolling before her next solo project, and one of her most successful, <i>East to Wes</i>, in 1987. Remler’s last album, <i>This is Me</i>, was released in 1989, which marked her journey into the more electronic sounds of fusion.</p>
<p>The illumination from Emily Remler’s bright shining light faded to black after 32 years of life, with her sudden death as a result of heart failure in 1990 while on tour in Australia.</p>
<p>Emily Remler, the stage is yours.</p>
<p>Here are two interviews featuring Emily, one audio and one video.</p>
<p>We can only wonder how much bigger Emily Remler’s footprint on the jazz landscape would have been had she not left us as early as she did.</p>
<p>I wish everyone a very festive Thanksgiving!</p>
<p>Reference</p>
<p><a href="http://www.AllThingsEmily.com" target="_blank">http://www.AllThingsEmily.com</a></p>
<center><a href="http://www.pstracks.com/music/emily-remler/12579/emailpopup/" onclick="email_popup(this.href); return false;" title="Forward to a friend and help us engage more readers" rel="nofollow"><img class="WP-EmailIcon" src="http://www.pstracks.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-email/images/email.gif" alt="email Emily Remler" title="Emily Remler" /></a>*<a href="http://www.pstracks.com/music/emily-remler/12579/emailpopup/" onclick="email_popup(this.href); return false;" title="Forward to a friend and help us engage more readers" rel="nofollow">Forward to a friend and help us engage more readers</a></center><br /><!-- // MAILCHIMP SUBSCRIBE CODE --><center><a href="http://eepurl.com/eSzBY">Get new and fresh stories like this each morning by joining the folks reading Paul's Posts. Click here </a></center>
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[Source: http://www.pstracks.com/music/emily-remler/12579/]
<p>Imagine that you are a talented, hard working and schooled guitarist looking to land a gig with a band. Despite having the skill, you are told by one band leader after another that they couldn’t hire you. The reason? “Because you’re a woman.” This is not a hypothetical scenario or a fictional nightmare. For the late trailblazing jazz guitarist, Emily Remler, this was a cruel reality.</p>
<p>Maybe it was being raised in a hard working Englewood, New Jersey home….or having a family that believed in achieving and encouraging Emily and her siblings to pursue individual ideas. Was it the access to music and instruments? It could have been the household philosophy that if you apply yourself, if you search for creative ends, you will succeed.* Probably all of the above. What seems clear is that Emily was undeterred by the bias and skepticism of the male dominated music business and doubters of her ability. She used her natural talent, hard work and instrumental prowess to silence the doubters. In an interview with Gene Lees, she addressed the issue of sexism in the industry:</p>
<p>“I’m not into sitting and crying about, I’m into doing. I never was bitter about the fact that there are so many band leaders who have told me face to face that they couldn’t hire me because I was a woman, or that they handled me with kid gloves because they figured my time wasn’t strong. You have to believe in yourself. It never did occur to me to stay in one place and bitch about this, about how I was never given a chance. I think it gives me more merit-to get really good, so good that it doesn’t matter: to get so good that you surpass it.”</p>
<p>Emily could not read music when she graduated from high school at age 16 and knew nothing about jazz. But she did spend a lot of time practicing and playing. The crossroad for Emily was to enter the Rhode Island School of Design with an emphasis in graphic design or Berklee College of Music. She chose the latter.</p>
<p>“I did sculpting and drawings and had a choice between Rhodes and Berklee because I was frustrated with art. I couldn’t get it the way wanted it. Music, at least you get more chances and a little more time and the companionship of other Musicians. I went to Berklee because they accepted me. It was easy to get in, but staying in was hard.” Her time at Berklee would have the greatest impact on who she became as an artist. Plus, it would be the first place she heard jazz. “It turned me around. Initially, all I heard was a bunch of notes, so I know what it’s like when people hear Jazz for the first time. When I first heard Miles, and Coltrane, I didn’t like them, they scared me. But when I first heard Charlie Christian with Benny Goodman, and Paul</p>
<p>Desmond, alto saxophonist with Dave Brubeck, I could hear the melody and relate to it. Desmond got me into jazz, and then when I heard Wes Montgomery and Pat Metheney, I was totally taken.” It became clear to her that being a jazz guitarist was her goal. It was her epiphany. She had found her purpose. At 18, Emily graduated from Berklee.</p>
<p>The late Jazz guitar legend Herb Ellis would cross paths with the 19 year old Remler and was very impressed.* “I was working in New Orleans in 1977, when this young girl, she couldn’t have been more that 20, came and asked me for a lesson. I asked her to play something for me, and when she did, I couldn’t believe what I heard. Forget about “girl”, she’s going to be one of the greatest jazz guitar players who ever lived. She can do anything.” Emily was asked to perform at that year’s Concord Jazz Festival with the “Great Guitars”: Herb Ellis, Charlie Byrd, Joe Pass, Tal Farlow, Barney Kessel and bassist, Ray Brown. It was at this point that her career went into warp drive as well as her musicianship.</p>
<p>“I had really just screwed around at Berklee, I didn’t concentrate that hard, I was a child, a total beginner. I came out not playing that great but with a lot of knowledge of chords and theory. I would say that Berklee was good for me in theory and harmony and ear training, but when I got to New Orleans, I was forced to get better and better. I played all these show gigs and jazz gigs, and I had 25 students. I was forced to come up to a certain level of playing. It was great. There was a modern jazz thing happening down in there. It was much hipper that New York because the people want to be a part of it. In New York, it was very serious, in New Orleans, everybody jumps up and down, there’s an R&B kind of feeling. I sort of stole that rich culture and applied it to my own music. If I had stayed in Boston, I’d be playing <i>Giant Steps</i> like a madman-like everybody else.”</p>
<p>In 1981, at age 23, Emily recorded her first album as a leader, <i>Firefly</i>. While it wasn’t considered groundbreaking by critics, it was a successful effort nonetheless. She was recognized as “Woman of the Year” by jazz historian and music critic, Leonard Feather.* There was more to come.* In 1983, her second project, <i>Take Two</i>, hit the streets. Next came <i>Transitions</i> in 1983, marking a change in Remler’s music and compositional skills. Success, however, can have consequences. The hectic touring schedules of Emily and her husband, Jamaican pianist Monty Alexander reeked havoc on their marriage of two years, with divorce shattering their world in 1984.</p>
<p>The music continued.* A project featuring all original material, <i>Catwalk</i>, was released the same year.* She appeared on Ray Brown’s <i>Soular Energy</i> and <i>in</i> 1985, a duo project with longtime friend and guitarist, Larry Coryell, <i>Together</i>. Touring and other appearances as a featured guest kept the bass rolling before her next solo project, and one of her most successful, <i>East to Wes</i>, in 1987. Remler’s last album, <i>This is Me</i>, was released in 1989, which marked her journey into the more electronic sounds of fusion.</p>
<p>The illumination from Emily Remler’s bright shining light faded to black after 32 years of life, with her sudden death as a result of heart failure in 1990 while on tour in Australia.</p>
<p>Emily Remler, the stage is yours.</p>
<p>Here are two interviews featuring Emily, one audio and one video.</p>
<p>We can only wonder how much bigger Emily Remler’s footprint on the jazz landscape would have been had she not left us as early as she did.</p>
<p>I wish everyone a very festive Thanksgiving!</p>
<p>Reference</p>
<p><a href="http://www.AllThingsEmily.com" target="_blank">http://www.AllThingsEmily.com</a></p>
<center><a href="http://www.pstracks.com/music/emily-remler/12579/emailpopup/" onclick="email_popup(this.href); return false;" title="Forward to a friend and help us engage more readers" rel="nofollow"><img class="WP-EmailIcon" src="http://www.pstracks.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-email/images/email.gif" alt="email Emily Remler" title="Emily Remler" /></a>*<a href="http://www.pstracks.com/music/emily-remler/12579/emailpopup/" onclick="email_popup(this.href); return false;" title="Forward to a friend and help us engage more readers" rel="nofollow">Forward to a friend and help us engage more readers</a></center><br /><!-- // MAILCHIMP SUBSCRIBE CODE --><center><a href="http://eepurl.com/eSzBY">Get new and fresh stories like this each morning by joining the folks reading Paul's Posts. Click here </a></center>
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[Source: http://www.pstracks.com/music/emily-remler/12579/]