Esquerita

Esquerita was the stage name of singer, songwriter and pianist Eskew Reeder Jr. He was born in Greenville, South Carolina, on November 20, 1935, and died in Harlem on October 23, 1986, of AIDS. He is remembered as an influence on rock and roll pioneer Little Richard, though the extent and nature of Reeder's influence is uncertain.

Biography

Eskew Reeder (ne:Steven Quincy Reeder Jr, SQ Jr.) was born in Greenville, SC (circa 1934), he attended Sterling High School in Greenville from 1947 to 1950. Little is known about this manic rock and roll piano player, and he is perhaps best-known as an influence on Little Richard (Richard Penniman). As Reeder did not record until after Little Richard's initial mid-1950s recordings for RCA and Back Beat labels, it is clear that Esquerita influenced Richard stylistically. Esquerita was known for wearing heavy makeup and two wigs, piling his pompador even higher than Richard's. Early Little Richard recordings were made at WGST Radio Station in Atlanta, and they do not show the style that was to make Little Richard famous. Little Richard had not intended to use the style in his first New Orleans session for Specialty Records. Taking a break from the session, producer "Bumps" Blackwell had gone with Richard to a local cafe, where Richard jumped on a piano and began singing an X-rated version of "Tutti Frutti", in true Esquerita fashion. Blackwell had been unhappy with the initial songs on the session, and felt that a cleaned-up version of the song with the same style of presentation would be just what his boss Art Rupe was looking for. The rest is history.

Reeder was a self-taught piano player whose roots were in gospel music. His music career started as a teenager, when he dropped out of high school and joined the gospel group "Heavenly Echoes" based in New York City.

His first solo studio recordings came about when Paul Peek, got him to record some demos at a Greenville radio station (WESC) around 1958. At that time, Peek was a member of the fabled rockabilly group The Blue Caps, led by manic performer Gene Vincent. Peek even co-wrote "The Rock-Around" with Reeder, and Reeder played piano on the 1958 recording that launched the NRC label for National Recording Corporation. From these contacts and Paul Peek's influence with Capitol Records came a record contract; The album Cub Koda described the results as "some of the most untamed and unabashed sides ever issued by a major label." [http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll] At this point, Eskew Reeder, Jr. adopted the stage name "Esquerita."

The ensuing years found Reeder cutting several singles with various backing musicians in studios in Nashville, Dallas, New Orleans and Detroit. Capitol Records released the LP "Esquerita" in 1959, his only album in the traditional sense (i.e., not a compilation of earlier singles, or re-issue). Some of the musicians he recorded with in this era included Jimi Hendrix, Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, and The Jordanaires (Elvis Presley's backup singers). His best known songs from this time include: "Hey Miss Lucy", "Get Back Baby", "Getting’ Plenty of Lovin’", "Rockin’ the Joint", and "Oh Baby".

In 1968, Reeder changed his name to "The Magnificent Malochi" and signed with Brunswick Records. Shortly after this, he began to fade from the music scene, and little was known about his whereabouts. According to an interview with Billy Miller and Miriam Linna in the ReSearch book "Incredibly Strange Music", Reeder occasionally performed at African-American gay clubs under the name "Fabulash" during the 1970s. He was eventually tracked down by a writer for "Kicks Magazine" in 1983 or 1984, who found him performing in second-rate New York City clubs. According to an article ("Who Was Esquerita?"} by music historian Johnny Carter in an international oldies magazine, music maven Bill Lowery (who originated National Recording Corporation and was involved in the Peek sessions for NRC) was approached by Esquerita on the street in New York in 1985 after a conference at Broadcast Music, Inc. Lowery confirmed that Esquerita was down on his luck and was working as a parking lot attendant but was still as flamboyant as ever. A few months before his death he was seen washing windshields of cars for tips at an intersection in Brooklyn, NY. In this same article, the father of Esquerita said that his son had died of complications brought on by AIDS in 1986.

Trivia

*Mick Jones (of The Clash) recorded a song "Esquerita" with his band Big Audio Dynamite, appearing on the group's "Tighten Up Volume '88" album.
*Esquerita's father Eskew Reeder Sr.'s last known residence was Simpsonville, South Carolina. Eskew Sr. was born on March 25 1907 and died in February 1989 (a little over two years after his son Esquerita's death).
*Lynn August, a zydeco performer, played drums for Esquerita in the early 1960s. At the age of 12, August was playing drums for Fats Junior who happened to be opening a show for Esquerita, who let August play a couple of songs with him. After Esquerita spoke with August's mom, he was hired as Esquerita's drummer and played with Esquerita for three years, mostly around New Orleans. August said that Esquerita was playing an organ with pedals and only carried a drummer because he was such a great entertainer. Esquerita also encouraged August to take up piano. Lynn August later became known for his accordion playing. When Esquerita left New Orleans around 1963, August joined Jay Nelson's band from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Discography

olo singles

*Oh Baby/Please Come Home (Capitol #4007) (1958)
*Rockin' The Joint/Esquerita And The Voola (Capitol #4058) (1958)
*Laid Off/Just Another Lie (Capitol #4145) (1959)
*Hey Miss Lucy/Battie Over Hattie (Capitol #1075) (promo) (1959)
*Green Door/I Waited Too Long (Minit #648) (1962) (as Eskew Reeder)
*Never Again/We Had Love (Minit #658) (1962) (as Eskew Reeder)
*The Flu/Undivided Love (Instant # 3258) (1963) (as Eskew Reeder Jr.)
*I Woke Up This Morning/I Woke Up This Morning Part Two (Instant #3268) (1963) (as Eskew Reeder Jr.)
*A Tear/Johnny Little (Everest #2025) (1963) (as Eskew Reeder)
*Stubborn Old Me (Motown) (about 1964) (unreleased)
*I Want To Know/Just In Time (Okeh #7239) (1966) (as S. Q. Reeder)
*Tell The World About You/Two Ton Tessie (Okeh #7254) (1966) (as S. Q. Reeder)
*Dew Drop Inn/You Better Believe In Me (Cross-Tone #1007) (1967) (as Eskew "Esque-Rita" Reeder)
*Mama Your Daddy's Come Home/As Time Goes By (Brunswick #55359) (4/1968) (as Magnificent Malochi)
*Hey Miss Lucy/Hole In My Heart (Capitol #81382) (Germany) (1973)
*Hey Miss Lucy/Gettin' Plenty Lovin’ (Capitol #C006-81-709) (Old Rock New Roll Volume 5 Series) (France)
*Dew Drop Inn/Rockin’ The Joint (Norton #014) (1991)

Main albums

*Esquerita (Capitol #1186) (1959)
*Vintage Voola (Norton #202) (1997)

Compilations and re-issues

*Capitol Collectors Series (Capitol) (1990)
*I Never Danced Nowhere! (Charly #CD-224) (1990)
*Chart Scrapers (Century CD-10976) (1994)
*Sock It to Me Baby (Bear Family #BCD-15504) (1994)
*Believe Me When I Say Rock & Roll Is Here to Stay (Collectables) (1998)
*Rockin' the Joint (Collectables) (1998)

Piano appearances by Esquerita

*Didn't It Rain/Your God Is My God (Baton #216) (1955) (The Heavenly Echoes)
*The Rock Around/Sweet Skinny Jenny (NRC #001) (1957, 1987) (Paul Peek)
*Mexican Rock 'n' Roll (Instrumental)/Mexicali Baby (Capitol #3884) (2/1958) (The Rio Rockers)
*Love Is A Many Splendored Thing/Southern Style (Hermitage #776) (1962) (The Eskerettes)
*I Trusted In You/Southern Style (Hermitage #10545-H-306) (1962) (Willie B.) (backup vocals by The Eskerettes)
*Good Golly Miss Molly (Vee Jay) (12/1964) (Little Richard)
*Slippin' And Slidin' (Vee Jay) (12/1964) (Little Richard)
*The Explosive Little Richard (Okeh #14117) (1/1967) (Little Richard)
*Stingy Jenny (Brunswick) (6/1968) (Little Richard) (co-wrote)
*Freedom Blues/Dew Drop Inn (Reprise #0907) (4/1970) (Little Richard) (co-wrote both sides)
*Greenwood Mississippi (Reprise #942) (1970) (Little Richard) (co-wrote)

Unconfirmed Claims

*Didn't It Rain Part 1/Didn't It Rain Part 2 (1959?) (The Clovertones & Rev. Willie Green). Enrica 122, reissued on Eagle Records CD, EA-R 90421 (2001), and recently reissued on vinyl (posing as Enrica 122 again) (the Esquerita link appears only on the back of the Eagle CD; there is no mention of him elsewhere)
*Touch Of The Spirit (Evangelist Rosa Shaw). Rae-Cox 103 (1962), reissued on Eagle Records CD, EA-R 90420 (2001). The original single credits Robert Banks as keyboardist - organ, presumeably - but nothing is mentioned about Esquerita.
*Hour Of Prayer (Evangelist Rosa Shaw). Rae-Cox 103 (1962), reissued on Eagle Records CD, EA-R 90420 (2001). The claim on the back of the Eagle CD is that Esquerita appears on piano; however, this track (Hour of Prayer) is only vocal -- there is no instrumental backing.
*Didn't It Rain/I Hear Voices (by Screamin Jay Hawkins) (Norton #127) (2005) (reissue of 2 tracks from the Eagle CDs (EA-R 90420 and EA-R 90421, see above).

External links

* [http://www.geocities.com/eskew_reeder/ Esquerita Website]
* [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:51q67uu0h0j3~T0/ All Music Guide]
* [http://www.nortonrecords.com/index2.html Norton Records]
* [http://globaldogproductions.info/baton-sir.html Baton Records Discography]