Juan García Esquivel, often known mononymously as Esquivel!, was a Mexican band leader, pianist, and composer for television and films. He is recognized today as one of the foremost exponents of a sophisticated style of largely instrumental music that combines elements of lounge music and jazz with Latin flavors. Esquivel is sometimes called "The King of Space Age Pop" and "The Busby Berkeley of Cocktail Music", and is considered one of the foremost exponents of a style of late 1950s-early 1960s quirky instrumental pop that became known as "Space Age Bachelor Pad Music".
Easy listening is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to the 1970s. It is related to middle of the road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, non-rock vocals and instrumental covers of selected popular rock songs. It mostly concentrates on music that pre-dates the rock and roll era, characteristically on music from the 1940s and 1950s. It was differentiated from the mostly instrumental beautiful music format by its variety of styles, including a percentage of vocals, arrangements and tempos to fit various parts of the broadcast day.
Exotica is a musical genre that was popular during the 1950s to mid-1960s with Americans who came of age during World War II. The term was coined by Simon "Si" Waronker, Liberty Records co-founder and board chairman, named after the 1957 Martin Denny album Exotica. The musical colloquialism exotica means tropical ersatz, the non-native, pseudo experience of insular Oceania, Southeast Asia, Hawaii, the Amazon basin, the Andes, the Caribbean and tribal Africa. Denny described the musical style as "a combination of the South Pacific and the Orient...what a lot of people imagined the islands to be like...it's pure fantasy though." While the South Seas forms the core region, exotica reflects the "musical impressions" of every place from standard travel destinations to the mythical "shangri-las" dreamt of by armchair safari-ers.
Lounge music is a type of easy listening music popular in the 1950s and 1960s. It may be meant to evoke in the listeners the feeling of being in a place, usually with a tranquil theme, such as a jungle, an island paradise or outer space. The range of lounge music encompasses beautiful music–influenced instrumentals, modern electronica, while remaining thematically focused on its retro–space age cultural elements. The earliest type of lounge music appeared during the 1920s and 1930s, and was known as light music.
Tad was an American rock band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 1988 by Tad Doyle. They are often recognized as one of the first bands of the grunge era.
Don Alan Dixon is an American record producer, songwriter, and musician. He is considered to be one of the key producers of what is called the jangle pop movement of the early 1980s, including working with R.E.M. and The Smithereens.
Jaymz Bee and the Royal Jelly Orchestra is a Canadian lounge music and jazz band formed in Toronto. This group of about a dozen musicians, led by Bee released eight albums of cover versions of well-known songs, reinterpreted for performance in cocktail lounges.
Schizophonic! is an album by the American lounge band Combustible Edison, released in 1996.
Possum Dixon was an American rock band, which existed between 1989 and 1999. Fronted by singer-songwriter and bassist Rob Zabrecky, the group's neo-new wave pop and post punk style first appeared among a string of early independently released 7 inch singles and on their self-titled debut on Interscope Records in 1993. Zabrecky's lyrical content often described love lost and slacker life in Los Angeles.
Goin' Through Changes is the second and final album by Canadian band Zumpano. It was produced by Keith Cleversley and released in 1996 by Sub Pop. The album is available for listening online.
Love Jones is an American band from Louisville, Kentucky formed in 1990 and consists of Ben Daughtrey, Barry Thomas (bass), Chris Hawpe, Jonathan Palmer (vocals), and Stuart Johnson (drums).
Six Finger Satellite is an American rock band from Providence, Rhode Island. Described by former member John MacLean as "a post-punk band utilizing dance music elements", Six Finger Satellite's eclectic sound is driven synthesizers as well as more traditional rock instrumentation.
Space age pop or bachelor pad music is a subgenre of easy listening or lounge music associated with American and Mexican composers, songwriters, and bandleaders in the Space Age of the 1950s and 1960s. It drew on contemporary fascination with technology, outer space, and "exotic" locations, exploiting new audio technology such as stereophonic sound, multitrack recording, and early electronic instruments. Irwin Chusid identifies the heyday of the genre as "roughly 1954 to 1963—from the dawn of high-fidelity (hi-fi) to the arrival of the Beatles." Major artists in the genre include Juan García Esquivel, Les Baxter, Enoch Light, Henry Mancini, Dick Hyman, and Jean-Jacques Perrey.
Dan Cunneen is an American musician, songwriter, disc jockey, screen printer and graphic designer originally from Portland, Oregon, United States. He is best known for his drumming with the 1980s Portland bands Final Warning and The Obituaries, as well as the 1990s Seattle bands Zipgun and Nightcaps. In 2020, Cunneen began recording under the moniker Dan Steely. He occasionally plays drums with the Perkins Coie Band, the in house band for the Seattle law firm Perkins Coie. As Dan Steely, Cunneen is currently the lead singer and principal songwriter for the Seattle-based band Roxbury Saints.
Nightcaps are an American lounge band from Seattle, Washington. The band was most active from 1995 through 2000, but they continue to play occasionally in the Pacific Northwest.
Ultra-Lounge is a series of compilation CDs released by Capitol Records, featuring music predominantly from the 1950s and 1960s in genres such as exotica, space age pop, mambo, television theme songs, and lounge. Many of the volumes have since been made available for purchase via digital download.
Uzi was an American alternative rock band, formed in 1984 in Boston, Massachusetts and disbanded in 1987. The band featured Thalia Zedek, Danny Lee (drums), Randy Barnwell, Bob Young (guitar) and Phil Milstein. Never achieving commercial success during their short period of activity, the band gained a cult following, becoming a part of Boston's underground rock scene.
Powerful Pain Relief is the second album by the American band Love Jones, released in 1995. The band was considered part of the mid-1990s "Cocktail Nation" trend of retro cocktail lounge groups.
The Shadow of Your Smile is the debut album by the American band Friends of Dean Martinez, released in 1995. The band included members of two Arizona bands: Joey Burns and John Convertino, of Giant Sand, and Bill Elm, Tom Larkins, and Van Christian, of Naked Prey. The band changed their name from Friends of Dean Martin right before the album's release, after threat of legal action by Martin's representatives.
Robert Toomey, publicly known as Brother Cleve, was an American musician, DJ, record producer, mixologist, and writer. Known as the godfather of the local bar and cocktail scenes in Boston, Massachusetts, Cleve grew up in nearby Medford.
