SpotLight On: Esquivel

Sunday, 22. October 2006, 00:31:19

Most of Esquivel's recordings start with much the same big band with vocal chorus foundation as Ray Conniff and others, but his arrangements take every element to its limit. On "Latin-esque," he went to the extreme of channel separation by placing two orchestras in studios a block apart and mixing the result live in the booth. If Roger Williams uses a four octave run in his version of "Autumn Leaves," Esquivel would use six and split them among six different instruments, starting on the right channel and moving over to the left in the process. It's fitting that Esquivel's name was usually printed with an exclamation point: his trademark is the musical exclamation point, whether it's a "Pow!" sung by the chorus or a "zing" from a harpsichord.

Not all hi-fi buffs appreciated Esquivel's innovative writing for stereo. A critic in Audio magazine in 1962 described it as "mayhem in Latin tempos." In reviewing the reel-to-reel tape release of "Infinity in Sound, Vol. 2," High Fidelity magazine reviewer R.D. Darrell vented his spleen:

"Odd-sound fancier that I am, I have to draw the line somewhere, and for me, Esquivel oversteps it in his complete disregard for musical taste and tonal attractiveness. There is plenty of sonic sensationalism here, both in the frantically fancy arrangements and the spectacularly stereoistic recording, but almost without exception the crude effects cancel each other out. The sounds emanating from an electronic organ and a zu-zu-ing chorus, the nauseous glissandos on various instruments, and the squalling brasses are, for the most part, intolerable. There is at least some gusto in La Bamba, but for the rest, I'll take honest rock 'n' roll any day!"
How times have changes. Now listeners are abandoning dishonest rock 'n' roll in favor of Esquivel's "zu-zu-ing chorus" and "nauseous glissandos"--while many of Mr. Darrell's beloved reel-to-reels lie rotting in attics and garages. Source:Space Age Pop

Well nobody called Mr. Darrell as spokesman for the resurgence of the Space Age Pop genre in the early 90's. They did call Esquivel and he represented well, all that Bachelor Pad is. He died in 2002 and another of the pioneers have left us physically. But musically these masters of the music that many love to hear can be savored for ever!

Track List

01 - Canadian Sunset
02 - Begin The Beguine
03 - El Carro Del Sol (Venetian Love Song)
04 - Solamente Una Vez
05 - Surfboard
06 - Playfully
07 - Sun Valley Ski Run
08 - Malaguena
09 - Cachito
10 - Harlem Nocturne
11 - One For My Baby (One For The Road)
12 - Autumn Leaves
13 - Street Of Dreams
14 - Primivera
15 - Speak Low
16 - So Rare
17 - Bye Bye Blues
18 - Travelin
19 - Adios
20 - Tico Tico
21 - Oye Negro
22 - In A Persian Market
23 - Boulevard Of Broken Dreams
24 - My Blue Heaven
25 - I Get A Kick Out Of You
26 - Latin-Esque
27 - Agua De Beber
28 - Domino
29 - Who's Sorry Now

Total Playing Time 78:55

pw = atov
Zoo Zoo Zoo

Get parts 1 & 2 for best results!

DL188

Arthur Lyman - IlikaiVarious Artist - Life In The European Theatre

Comments

Old Vinyl writes:

Hi there LP,

This is what makes you one of the very best, instantly recognisable as one of your compilations.

Regards

By anonymous user, # 22. October 2006, 20:50:05

Dear LP,

And from my Opera blog I say this is a great share comp.

Your good work is much appreciated.

Vinyl Deck

By Vinyl.Deck, # 22. October 2006, 20:54:57

Anonymous writes:

Gorgeous stuff.

Many thanks.

Regards - Mel.

By anonymous user, # 25. October 2006, 15:00:45

Xulio writes:

Thanks for good post

By anonymous user, # 26. October 2006, 09:27:07

Don Gato writes:

Thanks for this compilation, beautiful beautiful

By anonymous user, # 24. November 2006, 15:31:05

Gato14 writes:

Beautiful, many thanks for this compilation

By anonymous user, # 24. November 2006, 15:32:30

Esquivel made a great contribution to the genre. Glad you like his music. He is a favorite of mine. Weird is good! LP

By Licorice Pizza, # 25. November 2006, 07:12:33

Anonymous writes:

I was very excited to see that you offered this mix, but opun downloading it and opening it up I get errors. What gives? What's the secret? Anyonbe else have trouble with these?

By anonymous user, # 4. December 2006, 18:28:26

password is atov

By Licorice Pizza, # 4. December 2006, 22:14:42

Anonymous writes:

I get errors before I am asked for a password. Maybe it is just me. I appreciate it anyway though.

By anonymous user, # 9. December 2006, 12:14:22

I am sorry you are having problems. this has been downloaded over 200 times and no one has had a problem. I just downloaded the file and it worked very well. Did you get both parts 1 and 2? LP

By Licorice Pizza, # 9. December 2006, 14:01:24

Anonymous writes:

Licorice Pizza and A Taste of Vinyl is one of the greatest music sites ever! What a treasure it is! Thanks a lot!

By anonymous user, # 3. September 2007, 02:52:13

WoW! Really. Thanks, your too kind. LP

By Licorice Pizza, # 3. September 2007, 03:55:33