Customer Reviews

Emily Remler: Advanced Jazz & Latin Improvisation

5 star:		(7)
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First of all, both Emily Remler Hot Licks DVDs are worth buying for their moving end messages and introductory performances alone.
After watching these DVDs you realize what a tragedy her death in 1990 at age 32 was and will probably want to seek out her CD's; some of which are unfortunately out of print.
Both DVDs appear to have been recorded around the same time and I suggest buying both since they cover quite diferent material.
This Jazz and Latin DVD makes a point of having metronome on 1 and 3 for Latin feel, as opposed to 2 and 4 of swing as covered in Bebop and Swing DVD.
There are more musical examples in this DVD and booklet, with plenty of licks and a clear explanation given for playing over 'Type 1' and 'Type 2' dominants; play Melodic minor from 5th for Type 1 (non-resolving) and play Melodic minor up half step for Type 2 (resolving). Some of you will know this is same as Lydian-Dominant and Altered, but Emily gives great explanations of 9 and 13 natural tensions, #11 spice and avoiding 'whitebread' sound by not starting on root.
There are a lot of pearls of wisdom and good suggestions throughout DVD and I found myself scribbling notes in the included booklet; for example 'think melodies not scale', Montgommery's heaven sound, dark to light, going home.
Part of end message in Jazz and Latin DVD is '..wanted to share some of true feelings about music, surpasses chords, technique, electronics and instrument itself, what thing is really about, be a individual, express and find own spirit, ...outlet and form of therapy, ...be an acompaniest - get ego out of the way...' Hopefully you can hear message, learn something and be entertained by this DVD.

Very good Bossa Nova. (the real deal) Excellent demonstration of bass and chord syncronization. Worth every penny.

I really liked this DVD. First and foremost, Emily Remler is a great teacher. I've gleaned a lot from her videos and I still watch them. In this video, you first learn the CORRECT way to play bossa nova. I've seen so many people play this simple style incorrectly, if they could only hear Emily teach it, they would get it in 5 minutes! Then she teaches the CORRECT way to play samba rhythm. Next, she gets into how to use the jazz minor scale which is, in my opinion, PRICELESS! I've learned so much from her lesson that it's the easiest explanation I've ever seen. I've heard other people talk about the "modes of the jazz minor scale". And that is what she essentially teaches but she teaches it in such an accessible way. I would recommend this video to guitarists and jazz instrumentalists alike, at least those that want to learn how to use the jazz minor scale. it's worth the $25... and then some!

It's rare that reviewers of guitar lessons get emotional in praising the teacher, but Remler seems to inspire that level of response. With her steady gaze and no-nonsense New Yorker's dialect, she lays out the basics-- but not too basically-- of fingerstyle jazz. On this DVD, her version of the bossa nova How Insensitive is nicely worked out (for those of us, like the late Remler, with small hands), and you can visit Scribd for a transcription of that piece.

Emily had a wonderful gift as a teacher - "Advanced Jazz & Latin Improvisation" is great example of her ability to speak about jazz in a personal, simple yet effective way. She talks about her own struggles to improvise over certain types of progressions in a way I could completely relate to. The solution that she found may be limited in scope yet it is very effective step forward to overcome such problems. Her coverage of bossa nova rhythm playing is superb. She speaks about music in personal and inspiring way - giving honest and down-to-earth advice how to learn from old masters, how to practice, how to build your phrase vocabulary, how to be realistic about improvisational skills. I would recommend both of her videos to any jazz beginner - learning (and struggling with) Blue Bossa or Killer Joe.

This woman had it down...she really knew the fretboard and could break down complex rhythms and jazz turn arounds in a very easily understood manner. Two negatives: I wish I had discovered her earlier and I wish she hadn't passed too quickly through this world. what a great talent she has.

this is a wonderful dvd performed by Emily, this dvd gives a very good insight on the latin and jazz improvisation, i highly reccomend this dvd for anyone who is interested in this style of playing i find that its very informative