Emily Remler: Cookin’ At The Queens

  From a commercial standpoint, it makes sense that the vast majority of historical jazz releases contain music by the biggest stars, collections that fill in details of generally lengthy careers. Just in the last few years, we’ve seen the release of previously unheard music by such famed players as Art Tatum, Sonny Rollins, Wes Montgomery, and Bill Evans, to name a few. It’s the rare release that offers a genuine revelation to the listener. But the first issue of newly heard music in 33 years by the guitarist Emily Remler, who died on a 1990 tour in Australia at the age of 32, offers the kind of surprise that can be truly rewarding. Coming up at a time when female instrumentalists were a rarity, Remler was an exciting and dynamic performer. Herb Ellis referred to her as "the new superstar of guitar" and as she herself told People magazine in 1982, "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." Co-produced by Zev Feldman and Bill Milkowski, who contributes a lengthy essay to the 19-page booklet, Cookin’ At The Queens compiles 160 minutes of music (on 2 CDs or 3 Lps) from a pair of gigs in Las Vegas. In 1984, Remler performs in a quartet format. Four years later, it’s just a trio with bass and drums. Bassist Carson Smith, who was first heard in Gerry Mulligan’s quartet in the early Fifties, is on hand with both units. Drummer Tom Montgomery in the 1984 quartet, seems to have settled in Las Vegas around 1960, as all his subsequent recording credits attest. The live repertoire is a blend of standards, jazz compositions like Bobby Timmons’ Moanin’ and Wes Montgomery’s D-Natural Blues, and bossa novas like How Insensitive (Insensatez) and Samba de Orfeo. She also liked to plays medleys of songs and their contrafacts. On the 1984 show, she couples Tadd Dameron’s Hot House with Cole Porter’s What is This Thing Called Love? In 1988, Miles Davis’ So What is joined with John Coltrane’s Impressions. Just one listen to the opening track, a nearly 10-minute workout on Moanin’ is all you really need to know that she was the real deal. A boldly imaginative and harmonically fluent soloist, with a beautifully flowing rhythmic sense, Remler is simply a joy to listen to. Three cheers for Zev Feldman rescuing these fine performances and reviving interest in a guitar great who left the scene too soon. 

Resonance HCD-2076; Emily Remler (g) with Cocho Arbe (p) Carson Smith (b) Tom Montgomery (d); Las Vegas, NV, May 28, 1984 (Disc 1 plus Out of Nowhere); with Carson Smith (b) John Pisci (d); Las Vegas, NV, September 19, 1988 (balance of Disc 2); Disc 1 (80:53): Moanin’/ How Insensitive (Insensatez)/ Autumn Leaves/ Polka Dots and Moonbeams/ Samba de Orfeo/ Hot House; What is This Thing Called Love?/ You Don’t Know What Love Is/ West Coast Blues/ Tenor Madness. Disc 2 (78:10): Out of Nowhere/ Manha de Carnaval/ Cisco/ Yesterdays/ All Blues/ Someday My Prince Will Come/ So What; Impressions/ D-Natural Blues. resonancerecords.org