Emily Remler’s “Cookin’ at the Queens"

Emily Remler, Cookin’ at the Queens: Live in Las Vegas 1984 & 1988 (3 LPs, 2 CDs, Resonance Records)

Decades ago, I was standing at the back of the Regattabar in Cambridge talking with Pat Metheny about everyone’s guitar hero Wes Montgomery. I lamented that at the end of his career Montgomery was making records with little room for improvisation. Metheny reproved me, and talked about the beauty of the way Montgomery states melodies. I am listening to the late guitarist Emily Remler play “Polka Dots and Moonbeams” and am reminded that she was not only a swinging, inventive jazz guitarist: she was also a great melodist.

Remler, who died in 1990 at the age of 33 of a heart attack presumably related to her drug addictions, hasn’t been forgotten. Her recordings as a leader for Concord Jazz began in 1981 with Firefly, a quartet session featuring bebop legend Hank Jones. Many remain available. She became well known almost immediately. In 1982, Remler was interviewed for People Magazine where, amusingly, she described herself in this memorable manner: “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.” She continued to record for Concord until the end, yet nowhere else did she get the space to stretch out as she does on the three LPs of Cookin’ at the Queens. (The music will also be available on 2 CDs.) The recorded sound, especially of the later session, is to my ears nearly perfect. The original tapes were made for broadcast on KNPR. Evidently the club opened up to a casino space where gamblers could be seen hacking away at one armed bandits. But they are not audible and Remler said she couldn’t see them. The set contains quartet music from May 28, 1984, and trio sides recorded on September 19, 1988. As a bonus, the enclosed booklet contains transcripts of interviews with musicians who knew her, played with her ,and were influenced by her. They, of course, lament her loss, and remember her sweetness as well as her musical mastery. The package couldn’t be more respectful.

Everywhere Remler plays disciplined, clean, purposeful lines. She’s precise as well as lyrical: she seems to have thought things through even as she invents. The trio sides were made with bassist Carson Smith and drummer John Pisci. The quartet consists of pianist Cocho Arbe, Smith, and a different drummer, Tom Montgomery. Her repertoire consists of jazz classics like “Moanin’”, “Tenor Madness”, and “Hot House” along with most famous bossa novas of the day, “Manha de Carnaval”, “Samba de Orfeu”, and “Insensatez”. She pays tribute to Miles Davis with “Someday My Prince Will Come” and “So What”. She nods to her major influence, Wes Montgomery, with his “D-Natural Blues” and “West Coast Blues”. The band’s solos are as convincing as their leader’s. Bassist Carson Smith’s credits go back to the Gerry Mulligan quartet of the early ’50s. Peruvian born Cocho Arbe was then living in Las Vegas and has rarely recorded. He’s a find.

Remler is clearly in charge. She introduces her sprightly version of “Yesterdays” with a nimble little riff. Then she plays the Jerome Kern melody via brilliant single note lines. She varies her sounds: a phrase that includes a gliss might end in a single bell-like tone. Here she plays the latter and then seems to go into hiding, musing with some quiet chording and then finishing with octaves in the full Wes Montgomery manner. On “Yesterdays” she starts to solo and manages, somehow, to make her sound turn darker. At times she is in conversation with herself, as if there were a second guitar commenting on her lines. Her attention to dynamics is as impressive as her rapid lines, the agile flow and variety of her improvisations. She’s hip: at one point she hints at Thelonious Monk’s jumpy piece “Well, You Needn’t”.

Guitarist Emily Remler — a musical master. Photo: Brian McMillen

The 1984 date opens with the Bobby Timmons classic, “Moanin’”. Here the guitarist plays octaves and gracefully passes the baton to pianist Arbe, who soon is excitedly playing rapid repeated chords as well as racket-y lines.The more familiar the tune, the faster Remler performs it. Her “Autumn Leaves” is quick: every note is distinct yet somehow it flawlessly swings. On “Samba de Orfeu”, the interplay with the rhythm section is more active. The intrusions by the bass, the chattering timekeeping of the piano, make it dance. This time the pianist takes the first solo as Remler comps behind him. She rips through “Tenor Madness”, a brave choice of repertoire, with a solo theme statement. Remler becomes excited on this one, but there is nothing out of place or smudged. Later, she pays tribute to another great guitarist, Pat Martino, with Martino’s “Cisco”.

The tributes to Emily Remler by other musicians are touching. They recognize the loss of a great musician and good friend. David Benoit says of her: “Emily knew her way around bebop, but she was more than that. She had a touch on that instrument I’ll never forget and her chord sensibility was really well put together. Every note she played was always just the right note.” Several mention her illness, her addictions. Most poignantly, guitarist Mike Stern, a good friend, remembers that he counselled her not to go on the road when she was in recovery. He told her: “You should go home. You’re doing great, but it’s still early recovery. Go home to Pittsburgh and just go to meetings. Take your time. Don’t go right on the road again.” She did go on the road and that was the last he saw of her. Cookin’ at the Queens is an invaluable addition to her legacy.  This is my favorite Emily Remler.

The Fuse’s Con Chapman pays homage to Emily Remler here. 

from https://artsfuse.org