Biography of the Orchestrotica's Esquivel big band
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"The perfect soundtrack for your space-age bachelor pad…"—WNYC

Mr. Ho's Orchestrotica is the world's only big band dedicated to performing the lost space-age pop music of Juan Garcia Esquivel, which the Wall Street Journal calls "deliciously demented and entertaining in equal parts." Led by Mr. Ho (Brian O'Neill), a "percussion master and musical polymath" according to the Boston Phoenix, the group has rescued the king-of-space-age-bachelor-pad's arrangements via meticulous transcriptions of the original recordings. The ensemble—a big band augmented with slide guitar, four singers, B3 organ, and three percussionists—recreates the Hollywood big band, easy latin, crime jazz, and space-age bachelor pad sounds of the 50s and 60s. A 2011 Downbeat Rising Star Big Band with "incredible arrangements, musicianship, and artistic direction," the group—and it's standard formation as a vibraphone quartet—has toured in the USA and Mexico and received international acclaim for it's Exotica for Modern Living series of recordings, one of which plays in over 7,000 Starbucks stores worldwide. Full page bio...

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• More about Brian O'Neill (Aristic Director) at crashandboom.com
• About Esquivel and the space-age pop genre - by Irwin Chusid
• More about Esquivel at spaceagepop.com

Musicians have included:

• Mr. Ho (Brian O'Neill): Bandleader, piano, percussion
• Alec Spiegelman, Joshua Sinton, Jared Sims, Andy Voelker, Ken Field, Tim Mayer, Paul Ahlstrand, Anthony Grant
• Bob de Vivo, Marianne Solivan, Christy Bluhm, Paul Pampinella, Yolanda Leroy, Jennifer O'Neill
• Yaure Muniz, Bryan Davis, John Replogle, Ross Hill, Scott Aruda, Bobby Gallegos, Dan Teager, Mark Sanchez
• Trombone (Joe Stewart)
• Bass trombone (Robynn Amy, Will Lomberdelli)
• French horn (Ken Pope)
• Percussion (Jeremy Lang, Michael Williams, Dov Michael Schiller)
• Drumset (Abe Lagrimas, Mike Connors, Mike Walsh)
• Bass (Randy Wong, Alec Derian)
• Organ/Accordion (Brother Cleve, Rusty Scott - also piano)
• Acoustic/Electric Guitar (Shaun Wortis, Tev Stevig, Nick Grondin)
• Slide Guitar (Tim Obetz, Ben Edmonds)

Press photo by Kathy Chapman.