Customer Reviews

Vintage Voola

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Esquerita was too weird to live, too raw and musical to die completely. Record company ad men tried passing him off as a Little Richard knock-off, and you can here similarities to the two musicians. But Esquerita and his band at times seem to be a little more close to flying off the rails than LR. Check out Rock-A-Round -- it seems like the band is trying to beat each other up with their instruments. This album consists of out takes and demos that foreshadowed what appeared on his studio work. If you don't mind wading through raw production values to find raw musical fun, this is a must have.

When Richard Penniman, alias Little Richard, burst onto the scene in 1955 on Specialty Records with Tutti Frutti, and fairly turned music on its collective ear, other labels were soon scrambling for their own version.

Of course, none succeeded in even coming close. That was like an alley cat trying to emulate a lion by springing onto the back of a gazelle. The closest was this guy, Eskew Reeder, who, when signed to Capitol to become THEIR Little Richard, took the name Esquerita.

None of his singles made either the R&B or the pop charts, even though a couple of them - Rockin' The Joint and Oh Baby in 1958 - weren't all that bad. Certainly as good as some of the drek that hung around the bottom rungs of the charts that year.

When it became obvious they had him tilting at windmills Capitol let him go. Once back in his home town of New Orleans he did put out a credible organ rendition of Jim Lowe's Green Door in 1962 on the Minit label, but again chart success eluded him.

For some reason Reeder has a cult following among collectors, and if you're curious as to why, you can't do better than this CD to find out for yourself. No one can say it doesn't rock.