Emily Remler: Firefly/Take Two

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 impossible to discern whether she felt she was a much bigger deal than the audience's size indicated or she was surprised anyone bothered to show up at all. Emily was like that, puzzled by life and her place in the jazz universe of struggling men and egos. At the time, I knew nothing about the addiction that would wind up killing her, but I sensed her soul was emotionally bruised.

I remember going on about her albums Firefly and Take Two and how superb they were. She was gratified to hear that. After talking to her for about 10 minutes, I recall thinking that she seemed young for someone with her chops. The artists she gigged with must have felt the same way. Given the quality of her playing, she should have been in her late 50s. Instead, she was a year younger than me, and I was 29 then.

Firefly was recorded in 1981 and featured Hank Jones (p), Emily Remler (g), Bob Maize (b) and Jake Hanna (d). Take Two featured James Williams (p), Emily Remler (g), Don Thompson (b) and Terry Clarke (d), and came a year later.

Emily was born in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. A self-taught guitarist, she planned to become a graphic designer. But when she she graduated early from high school at age 16, she found herself admitted to the Berklee College of Music. In Boston, Emily squeezed four years into two and graduated at 18. Then she moved to New Orleans, where the level of musicianship pushed her to become exceptional. Guitarist Herb Ellis became a mentor after hearing her, and she soon moved to New York.

There, Emily found herself in a crowded field of exceptional players. Guitarist John Scofield became another mentor and introduced her to bassist John Clayton, who invited her to San Francisco to record on his Concord album, It's All in the Family, with his brother Jeff. Impressed, Concord signed her to a recording contract. Firefly was first up followed by Take Two. After her marriage to Monty Alexander fizzled, Emily entered a self-loathing phase and turned to drugs.

In 1986, Emily left New York for Pittsburgh to become an artist in residence at Duquesne University and she studied with Bob Brookmeyer at the University of Pittsburgh. She also entered therapy to deal with her issues. In 1989, she signed with Justice Records to release her album This Is Me. While in Australia in May 1990, she was found dead in a Sydney hotel room. The official cause was heart failure, but at 32, Emily's substantial appetite for heroin and dilaudid (an opioid pain-killer) surely put her heart through the ringer.

Now, whenever I listen to Firefly and Take Two, I can't help but think about that night at the West End Bar, her face lit only by a flickering table candle and her eyes confused by it all. Shame on the monster who felt compelled to undercut her ambition by coaxing her into a fatal dependence on narcotics.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find Emily Remler's Firefly and Take Two here and here.

JazzWax clips: Here's the entire Firefly album...



And here's the entire Take Two album...



Here's Emily in the late 1980s playing Blues for Herb...



Here's Emily playing her original Majestic Dance...



And here's Emily in Australia in April 1990 playing How Insensitive just weeks before her death...