Circa 1958 Eskew Reeder was signed to Captiol Records at the urging of Gene Vincent, he changed his name to Esquerita and adopted a flamboyant, processed & pompadoured look tht made him one of the most outlandish acts in the day. He was also known as "The Magnificent Malochi", aka "S.Q. Reeder", aka "The Voola".... While studying as one of his students, the later much more well known Little Richard borrowed heavily from Esquerita's look & piano playing style.
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Circa 1958 Eskew Reeder was signed to Captiol Records at the urging of Gene Vincent, he changed his name to Esquerita and adopted a flamboyant, processed & pompadoured look tht made him one of the most outlandish acts in the day. He was also known as "The Magnificent Malochi", aka "S.Q. Reeder", aka "The Voola".... While studying as one of his students, the later much more well known Little Richard borrowed heavily from Esquerita's look & piano playing style. after 1 album on Capitol, Esquerita recorded for Minit Records with Allen Toussaint manning the boards. He then bounced around to various other small labels, even recording some material for Berry Gordy's new Motown imprint that went unreleased to this day. At one point in the mid sixties, he became a sideman to Little Riichard alongside Jimi Hendrix. By the 70's he'd drifted into obscurity & even served some time at Rikers Island before his death in Harlem in 1986.
