The Magnificent Esquerita!

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, PLEASE BE WELCOMED TO THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF ESQUERITA!

This album represents an entry point into that world, covering. an incredibly short period in the singer's 30-year-plus musical journey, sporadic – and always exciting. What a period, hunkered down in New Orleans and trying to escape from his legend as the man who taught Little Richard how to play piano and who, for a short while, was destined to become a substitute Richard, when the original abandoned rock and roll for the church.

If truth be told, Eskew Reeder, aka Esquerita, was always more interesting than that – even on his earliest rock and roll sides. His look was outrageous, a gay icon who blazed a sartorial trail and a keyboard player lauded by not just Little Richard but also Allen Toussaint.

Reeder cut his last disc in 1967, but remained adjacent to the music business, whilst living mainly in New York. In the 1980s he found himself lauded by the city's garage rock scene for his pioneering, no-holds-barred rock and roll. It seems, however, that being a cult hero didn't really pay, and he passed away in 1986 and was buried in an unmarked “pauper’s" grave. He wasn't yet 50 years old and just as he was being rediscovered!

TRACKLIST LP

SIDE A

1. ESKEW REEDER - 10-4 (Calling All Cars)
2. ESKEW REEDER - Green Door
3. ESKEW REEDER - Sarah Lee
4. ESKEW REEDER - Margie
5. ESKEW REEDER - Johnny Little
6. ESKEW REEDER - Never Again
7. ESKEW REEDER - I Waited Too Long

SIDE B

1. BENNY SPELLMAN - 10-4 (Calling All Cars) - BONUS TRACK
2. ESKEW REEDER - Undivided Love
3. ESKEW REEDER - How Long?
4. ESKEW REEDER - The Flu
5. ESKEW REEDER - I Woke Up Pt. 1 & 2 (With My Mind On My Baby)
6. ESKEW REEDER - We Had Love