Finding His Niche--35 Years Later : Pop Beat: Juan Garcia Esquivel’s bizarre and futuristic style was used to sell stereos in the early ‘60s. Now, his music tops many alternative fan’s lists.

Juan Garcia Esquivel has been called everything from the Mexican Duke Ellington to the King of Quirk, but the 77-year-old composer-pianist is probably best known as the master of Space-Age Bachelor Pad music.

This bizarre and futuristic style was used to sell ultra-modern hi-fi systems called “stereos” in the early ‘60s, systems that RCA described as possessing “movement so real your eyes will follow the sound.” The music also served as an excellent conversation piece at swinging cocktail parties.

In this niche, nobody came close to concocting such fab, yet whacked, orchestral arrangements as Esquivel. He combined big-band boom with Latin percussion, then dropped in everything from Hawaiian guitar to accordion to primal grunts and perky whistles.

It’s no wonder his eccentric approach never enjoyed the Top 10 success of such “stereophonic” pop designers as Martin Denny and Arthur Lyman. Instead, Esquivel remained a curious character on the musical fringe.

Now, his uniqueness is proving to be his biggest asset.

Modern-day lounge acts, such as Combustible Edison and British trance-pop group Stereolab, consider the composer an icon, while experimental artists, including Bjork, base their far-flung sounds on a similar mix-and-match ethos.

That’s why two recent Esquivel compilations on Bar/None Records, “Space-Age Bachelor Pad Music” and “Music From a Sparkling Planet,” are at the top of many alternative fan’s lists.

What does Esquivel think of all the recent attention?

“I’m surprised because those recordings were made 35 to 36 years ago,” says the man who is retired and lives an hour from Mexico City in Morelos. “I’m also happy because I used to wonder why RCA didn’t promote my recordings. Perhaps the fact is that my music was too much for the time. The audience wasn’t ready for that type of music. Now, they are used to the sounds and the technology. I’m glad the young artists are trying to follow my style of writing. I love that.”

It’s evident that Esquivel’s popularity is expanding beyond the tastes of kitsch connoisseurs who initially rediscovered his music. Aside from the recent college chart success of “Bachelor Pad,” his work will appear alongside numbers by Bob Thompson and the Three Suns in RCA’s “History of Space Age Pop,” a three-volume set due in July.

“What I tried to do was not follow the style that was popular at that time,” Esquivel explains. “When I made those arrangements, Glenn Miller and the Dorseys were very popular. We had no synthesizers at that time, so I tried to get different sounds out of conventional and non-conventional instruments. I explored a little.”

At 17, the Tamaulipas, Mexico, native began his career by concocting offbeat pieces as background music for a comedy show on Mexican radio. “A comedian friend hired me to write background music for his show but he said, ‘There is no script, just go to rehearsal and improvise right there,’ ” he recalls. “He’d ask things like ‘Can you play something that sounds like a Russian guy walking through China?’ and somehow, I would do it.”

Between 1957 and 1968, he expanded on his big-band sound and recorded his wildest material with RCA before moving on to a 12-year stint in Vegas showrooms.

While he was driven throughout his career by a thirst for musical adventure, Esquivel admits there was also a bit of ego involved.

“I have discovered it is very difficult to keep the attention of someone that is listening to music,” he says. “After two minutes, people get bored. They move around or talk, and I don’t like that when I’m playing. I want their undivided attention. Maybe it’s a bit selfish on my part, but if I play, please, pay attention.”