Mexican bandleader Juan Garcia Esquivel enjoyed a resurgence in popularity and, more importantly, hipness in the ’90s, thanks in large part to a lounge culture revival and his influence on bands like Stereolab. In the exotica pantheon, Esquivel has a unique place, bringing together big band, Latin jazz and space age pop sounds in a big, campy explosion. His music is at times cartoonish, with dramatic brass competing with a silly “zu zu zu” and a Hawaiian guitar that sounds like the opening of a “Looney Tunes” cartoon. That said, it’s an infectious and delightful kind of cartoonish-ness.
Esquivel sets a space age bachelor pad scene stylishly and with a smirk on Other Worlds, Other Sounds, nicely matching the vixen-in-space cover art with his own set of rocket age mambo and cha-cha. Certainly, his take on “Night and Day” is a bit cheesy, but “That Old Black Magic” is more on the romantic side of the spectrum, and “Nature Boy” actually lives up to the promise of something exotic.
And since I brought up Stereolab, those lovable kraut-lounge experimentalists actually borrowed elements of “Magic is the Moonlight” on their Dots and Loops album. But perhaps the most impressive piece of all here is the arrangement of “It Had to Be You,” which has the nastiest use of a trombone mute I think I’ve ever heard. Bravo, Esquivel. Bravo. (https://www.treblezine.com/hold-on-to-your-genre-exotica/)
1 Granada 4:10
2 Begin The Beguine 3:12
3 Night And Day 2:40
4 Poinciana 3:05
5 Playfully 2:57
6 Adios 3:08
7 That Old Black Magic 2:36
8 Nature Boy 2:42
9 Magic Is The Moonlight 2:37
10 Speak Low 2:42
11 Ballerina 3:04
12 It Had To Be You 3:10
Esquivel And His Orchestra – Other Worlds Other Sounds
