Esquivel obit

January 3, 2002: Juan Garcia Esquivel dies, age 83

JUAN GARCIA ESQUIVEL (1918-2002) - obit by Irwin Chusid

Juan Garcia Esquivel, celebrated pianist, composer, bandleader, stereo recording pioneer, and glamorous Space Age Bachelor Pad Music icon, died at his home in Jiutepec, Morelos, Mexico, on January 3, 2002. He was 83. The death was reported by his widow, Carina Osorio vda. de Garcia, and by his son, Mario Eddi Garcia Servin, of Taxco. According to a longtime friend, Steve Reed, of Los Angeles, three months ago Esquivel suffered a stroke, which had left him paralyzed on one side and unable to speak. He recovered in a short time, but suffered a second, more severe stroke on Dec. 30. He died four days later.

Esquivel was born on January 20, 1918, in Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico. He was a renowned pianist/bandleader in his native country, garnering much acclaim on stage, television and radio. He starred in and scored two films, "Cabaret Tragico" and "La Locura de Rock'n'Roll," before being brought to the U.S. by RCA Victor Records in 1957. Working primarily in Hollywood, New York, and Las Vegas, the suave maestro recorded prolifically, led an explosive big band, and scored for several TV programs. His elegant, idiosyncratic, and very meticulous arrangements were colored by radical dynamic shifts, playful percussion, wordless vocals, and Esquivel's own virtuoso keyboard runs. When it came to recording sessions, he was notorious for budget-busting extravagance. His offstage life was filled with celebrity hobnobbing (e.g., Sinatra, Liberace, Ernie Kovacs), romantic intrigue (he embodied the charming Latin Lothario mystique), and unfortunate bouts of drinking and prescription drug abuse that eventually curtailed his success.

Many of Esquivel's saucy compositions, such as "Mucha Muchacha," "Whatchamacallit," "Latin-Esque," and "Mini Skirt," have come to symbolize the wild hyper-stereo orchestration of the 1950s and '60s. Ironically, his most familiar composition -- and one for which he is little known -- is the "Universal Emblem," a two-second blast of Wagnerian thunder which has for decades accompanied the Universal Studios logo at the conclusion of hundreds of television programs.

"Space Age Bachelor Pad Music," a 1994 Bar/None Records compilation of Esquivel's 1950s-'60s RCA Victor recordings, sparked a resurgence of interest in his work. Simpsons creator Matt Groening declared Esquivel "the great unsung genius of space age pop." Subsequent releases, such as "Music From a Sparkling Planet" (1995, Bar/None), "Cabaret Mañana" (1996, BMG), and the 40-years-locked-in-the-can "See It In Sound" (1999, 7N), launched his vintage recordings into wide circulation on TV, in films and commercials, and as background music in restaurants, lounges, and stores. Several of his compositions have been used in the soundtracks of major Hollywood films, including "The Big Lebowski," "Four Rooms," and "Beavis and Butt-Head Do America." His riffs have been widely sampled and emulated by audio mixologists and turntable wizards worldwide.

The Kronos Quartet recently commissioned and performed a string arrangement of Esquivel's 1967 composition "Mini Skirt." The original handwritten scores for his 24-piece orchestra no longer exist, having reportedly been hauled away as trash years ago when rent was in arrears on a Las Vegas storage facility. Though he was an American citizen, Esquivel moved back to Mexico in the 1980s. For the Televisa network, he composed soundtracks for a children's TV program, entitled "Burbujas" ("Bubbles"). He was inactive in the music business during the 1990s, due to a broken hip and an aggravated spinal injury which left him bedridden and unable to walk. He lived at the home of his older brother, Sergio, in Jiutepec, until Sergio's death in 1999. Esquivel then bought and moved to a home in Villas del Descanso, also in Jiutepec.

In May 2001, Esquivel married 25-year-old Carina Osorio, who had assisted the ailing legend as a home health care aide for several years. They were wed in a simple ceremony administered by a justice of the peace at Esquivel's home. Esquivel claimed that Carina was his sixth wife. He had married and divorced twice while residing in the United States. He described Carina as "a simple girl, who is attentive and honest," adding, "I am very happy, and she is too. We both stay up until 2:00 in the morning, and she helps me. Our house is not too big, not too small. Just for the two of us, it is nice. It has a nice garden."

A film biography about the Space Age Pop avatar is in script development at Fox studios, with John Leguizamo slated to star and Alexander Payne signed to direct. Per his wishes, Esquivel's remains were cremated, and his ashes were returned home with Carina.

- Irwin Chusid 1/8/02
 

Esquivel links