Here's another uncompiled chapter that I lay my hands on. The same thing was hoped for with Little Richard's Brunswick stuff that was posted a few months prior to the RSD release. By the way, have I ever mentioned how much I hate RSD and its prices? The music industry can go fuck itself! It's ridiculous what's happening with vinyl prices in general nowadays. Could something else become fashionable and trendy, and quite quickly please? You need a small fortune every time you want to buy something. Capitalists and record collectors can all kiss my arse.
Anyway, let's get back to the subject. Here's my attempt to bring together Esquerita's mid to late-60s soul recordings in one place. He wasn't calling himself Esquerita now, but Eskew Reeder, SQ Reeder or The Magnificent Malochi instead. I don't know why he did this, but it definitely didn't help his sales. The story goes like this: Following the unissued Detroit sessions on Berry Gordy's Motown, Esquerita travelled to Atlanta, Columbus and New York city. He reportedly played with both Jimi Hendrix and Maurice James at the Hawaii Kai on Broadway. He probably knew Jimi from a previous session with Little Richard, I suppose, or maybe he just knew him in general. Just like Gene Vincent did before, which resulted in his manic rock 'n' roll recordings for Capitol Records that most people are familiar with, Hendrix brought Eric Burdon to see him but nothing happened. A completely unissued session for Herb Abramson's Triumph Records, came to light thanks to Bear Family Records in 1990 as 'Sock It To Me, Baby' with great liners by Norton's Billy Miller. Esquerita performed alone with his piano.
In November 1965, he recorded four tracks for Okeh in Nashville, Tennessee. Two singles were issued in 1966, ‘I Want to Know’ and ‘Tell the World About You’, with backing vocals from the Sweet Inspirations. In an interview with legendary Kicks magazine, Esquerita said that he had relocated to Puerto Rico in 1965 or 1966, where he worked in nightclubs, before moving to Miami Beach, Florida. Esquerita claimed that he had played on Little Richard’s Okeh sessions during this period also.
Screaming Jay Hawkins also referred to Esquerita as having worked in New York clubs, playing the organ with just a drummer backing him, and having had his wild and famous pompadour cut down. Another session was planned, the one at the Bell Sound Studios in New York for an unknown label. An acetate featuring five tracks, surfaced in Miami and a second acetate appeared on eBay sometime in the 2011. The style is similar to the Okeh sides: up-tempo and mid-tempo soul-blues with excellent drumming, as S.J. Hawkins said. There is a seven-minute version of Nina Simone's 'Sinner Man', featuring outstanding performances by both musicians. The whole thing was released by Norton Records as 'Sinner Man: The Lost Session' in 2012, and is definitely worth tracking down.
Esquerita's next chapter was with Brunswick Records, the same label as Little Richard once again, he had just adopted the name 'The Magnificent Malochi' and Dr. John, who was living in Los Angeles at the time, is credited on keyboards (Harold Battiste played on that meeting too!). The session ended abruptly and the single was not released until the following year due to a violent clash with his manager, Charles Greene. During his second session with Brunswick in Los Angeles, Little Richard recorded his first Esquerita song, 'Stingy Jenny', as I mentioned in my piece on Ricardito more than six months ago.
His final single, released on the Cross-Tone label (a division of Columbia) and was recorded in New York in 1968 (or 1969 according to different sources). One side was dedicated to the glorious days of the famous New Orleans club, the Dew Drop Inn. In the liner notes to 'Vintage Voola' Esquerita is quoted, "Have you ever heard "Dew Drop Inn" by me? Little Richard heard mine and tried to copy it. You see, Richard — that big-headed child — can be stubborn sometimes. I told him, 'Man, if you do the song word for word like I told you, you'll have a hit!" And so he did the King and Queen of rock'n'roll on the amazing Reprise LP 'The Rill Thing'. The A side was the one that was a little later adopted by the young lads in England and their Northern Soul scene, the 'You Better Believe Me' masterpiece! This tune of storming rhythm and soul is absolutely sizzling and should have been a huge hit but it wasn't once more.
Are you still with me? OK, as I mentioned earlier, here's an unofficial gathering of his last ever recorded, released and uncompiled all-in one place gospel-infused soul shouters! All eight sides are as brilliant and feverish as everything else he did. I've added a bonus track at the end: the 1965 'Dew Drop Inn' demo recording of just him, his piano and a tambourine raising hell. Cheers!
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