Remembering the life and music of legendary jazz guitarist Emily Remler

Welcome a rare opportunity to listen in on a precious few private lessons from Emily and gain other insights into her teaching life, courtesy of former students who saved notes, recorded sessions and reminisced on their lessons long gone to share now.

Introducing Joel Turoff
You may remember Joel’s name from one of the letters to the editor of Guitar Player magazine in the months that followed Emily’s passing (see Good Words web page) as he left his written memorial for her in the August issue of 1990. By chance after contacting him for permission of reuse, he surprisingly extended an invitation to rummage through his trunk of material from lessons with Emily and accordingly this page was born. Joel first got turned onto Emily’s sound from a friend and guitar store owner who recommended he attend a local gig featuring Emily and Herb Ellis no less. That experience left quite an impression on the young freshman which eventually led to his lessons with her. Enjoy all the audio and relevant notations from those sessions and be sure to check out Joel’s myspace page to hear his talent for flatpicking and feel free to send him a great big Thank-You while you’re there if you enjoy his contributions.

Want to know the rest of his story …. Read More >>>

Below are Joel’s sessions, spanning some five years and at times many months passed between actual recordings but they are all excellent lessons within themselves and offer a a glimpse into a room that only a lucky few experienced. As Joel remarks, ” each of these lessons is a master class in itself that teaches some larger “principle” that can be applied to all jazz playing..”

Click the title (in blue) to download a quicktime audio file, indexes for the lesson are available where the paper icon occurs and a folder icon means there is other relevant material such as assignments, chord diagrams or related notes.

1. Lesson: Jazz Minors ~ January, 1985