From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Wed Nov 20, 2002  6:15 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Esquerita

ESQUERITA

Born Eskew Reeder, Greenville, South Carolina, 20 November 1935
Died 23 October 1986, Harlem, New York City, New York

No one has characterized Esquerita's music better than Charlie Gillett:
"Capitol was the only company to find any kind of answer to the wild-
ness of Little Richard, in an equally bizarre performer who called himself
Esquerita. For Capitol Esquerita cut a series of the most frantic rock 'n'
roll records ever made. If a producer or arranger was deputed to the
sessions, he must have been bound and gagged and put in a corner,
for there was little sign that anyone responsible for the records had been
concerned for their commercial potential. Few of the records sounded
as if the band had ever played the songs before, and frequently most of
the musicians took off on searing solos whose key and tempo were only
vaguely connected to those of others in the band. Esquerita played piano
with a speed and staccato attack that echoed Little Richard's style, but
the overall sound here in some way conjured a chaotic symphony, as a
succession of chords chased each other desperately up the keyboard.
The violence that was normally only a promise (or threat) in rock 'n' roll
was realized in Esquerita's sound."
(Charlie Gillett, The sound of the city, page 59.)

Basically a self-taught pianist, Eskew Reeder was already playing in
church by the time he was 9 or 10 years old. In his autobiography,
Little Richard reveals that it was Esquerita who really taught him to play
piano. Richard was deeply impressed by his wild piano style and six-inch
pompadour. Eskew dropped out of high school to join an NYC-based
gospel group called the Heavenly Echoes, with whom he appeared on
their Baton Records single "Didn't It Rain" in 1953. Returning to Greenville
after the breakup of the Heavenly Echoes, Reeder established himself as
the house rock and roller at the Owl Club on Washington Street under
the moniker "Professor Eskew Reeder". It was there that in 1958 he was
'discovered' by Blue Cap Paul Peek. On the strength of demos recorded
at Greenville radio station WESC, Gene Vincent convinced Capitol to sign
Reeder, who at this point changed his name to "Esquerita", in order to add
to his mystique.
A backing band was put together and then it was up to Nashville where a
two day session on May 15/16 1958, produced the first Capitol recordings:
"Oh Baby", "Rockin' The Joint" and five other sides. In August of the same
year, another 21 songs were recorded in Nashville, a couple of which ("I Live
the Life I Love" and "This Thing Called Love") feature the backing vocals of
the Jordanaires who were in town at that time to attend Elvis' mother's funeral.
Twelve of the 21 were issued as an LP titled "Esquerita!" (Capitol T 1186),
in May 1959. And yes, there was a producer deputed to the sessions, none
other than Ken Nelson. Long revered by rock & roll fans the world over, these
Capitol tracks make Little Richard's Specialty sides look highly disciplined by
comparison.
As a gesture of gratitude to Paul Peek for helping to get his career on track,
Esquerita wrote "The Rock Around", which became Peek's first solo single
for the NRC label. Esquerita played piano behind Peek, also on the other
side, "Sweet Skinny Jenny".
Esquerita continued to record in a tamer style through the sixties, on labels
like Minit, Okeh (where he called himself "S.Q. Reeder"), Cross-Tone and
Brunswick. There were a couple of reissues of the Capitol material in the
70's: an album called "Wildcat Shakeout" released in England, and a French
two-record package featuring all 28 songs recorded at the 1958 Nashville
sessions. Beyond that point, little is known about Esquerita's activities other
than that he spent some time in jail at Rikers' Island under the name 'Mark
Malochi'. In 1983, Billy Miller tracked down Esquerita for an interview in
issue # 3 of Kicks Magazine and discovered the Voola still active, doing
occasional gigs in lesser known New York clubs. He died of AIDS three
years later.
His Capitol sides stand as a monument to the potential of rock & roll's lunatic
power and the off-kilter genius of Esquerita.

The Capitol Collector's CD from 1990, with the complete Capitol recordings,
is now deleted, but the same 28 tracks have been reissued by Collectables
on a CD called "Rockin' The Joint" (COL-2713), in 1998.
Other available CD's, "Vintage Voola" (Norton), "Sock It To Me Baby" (Bear
Family) and "I Never Danced Nowhere" (Charly) are less interesting.

Website: http://www.geocities.com/eskew_reeder/