15 years ago we lost one of the musical greats of our time. There was so much more to come from Emily…

Emily Remler plays a brilliant rendition of Jobim’s How Insensitive.

Guitarist Emily Remler was born on September 18, 1957 in New York City, New York. Remler was primarily interested in rock guitar before attending Berklee College of Music and developing an interest in jazz. Emily released her first album, Firefly, on the Concord Label in 1981. She briefly worked with guitarist Larry Coryell and pianist David Benoit, but is best known for her own small groups.

How Insensitive is one of my favorite tunes in the world. Composer Jobim really outdid himself with this one.

Remler’s style generally falls within the hard bop idiom and is most influenced by Wes Montgomery. Here she performs the Antonio Carlos Jobim tune “How Insensitive” live in 1989. Personnel: Emily Remler: guitar, John Abercrombie: guitar, Dave Clark: bass, Marcello Pellitteri: drums. Emily was born in New York City and began playing guitar at ten years old, smitten by rock guitarists like Jimi Hendrix. While a student at Berklee College of Music, she developed a passion for jazz. After graduating at 18(!), she headed south to New Orleans, a musician’s paradise then and now, and played with bands like FourPlay and Little Queenie and the Percolators. Herb Ellis introduced her to the jazz world at the Concord, CA Jazz Festival in 1978. In 1985, she won the ‘Guitarist Of The Year’ award in Down Beat magazine’s international poll. She was much beloved and is dearly missed by the music community, especially guitarists who saw here as the standard bearer for the new generation.