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The Tao of Esteban

Confounding all his critics, an aging Scottsdale lounge guitarist transforms himself into the heartthrob of TV's Home Shopping Network

A A A Comments (4) By Gilbert Garcia Thursday, Sep 21 2000

...continued from page 6

He talks about keeping up with musical tastes -- he says he's even written a hip-hop tune -- but one of his most endearing traits is actually his lack of understanding of contemporary music. When he talks about how he's started to get into "New Wave," you wonder if he's aware that the term hasn't been in vogue for two decades.

As he reclines in his study and soaks in his Mozart, Esteban ponders for a moment, and recalls the last time he played for Segovia. He says Segovia listened, then pointed at him and said, "You will play for countless millions of people."

Man in black: Esteban, flanked by guitar cases and a Harley-Davidson pinball machine, relaxes in the music room of his Tempe home.

Paolo Vescia

Man in black: Esteban, flanked by guitar cases and a Harley-Davidson pinball machine, relaxes in the music room of his Tempe home.

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Thinking about the recent splash he made in Billboard, Esteban says, "We were beating Def Leppard and all these rock bands. And I'm just a classical guitar player, turned eclectic. So Segovia's prophecy is turning out right."

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Thedire 05/17/2012 9:44:00 PM

i have no problem with someone liking esteban's music, i don't totally mind it myself, but i think its good to let people know that his music is not really what he markets it as, and he is probably lying a lot

Plainjan1 08/07/2011 4:48:00 AM

As I rip l my Esteban CDs to a hard drive where I store my music, I discover the two comments below and can only chalk them up to sour grapes or two NON-fans. I first saw/heard Esteban at the Hyatt while vacationing in Scottsdale nearly 20 years ago. Maybe it IS just 'easy listening'-but he made it, as the article points out, without the record industry behind him. In this day and time, ANY musician that can succeed without a label has tenacity, if nothing else. Ego or not, studied under Segovia or not, HSW pablum or not...I LIKE his music. What's the problem?

Samplerman 12/15/2010 2:28:00 AM

I was one of the first people to record Stephen. In the early 90s he was just Stephen Paul. Poor but with a huge ego. No eyesight problems. And the Segovia story was different. He met Andres in a restaurant and asked for and autograph...on a napkin. That's it. Stephen fabricated his life story to milk it for all it was worth...and it's now worth millions. The Geico commercial through is credibility out the window. Poor baby.

vitolucachilimook 04/20/2010 8:29:00 PM

In the grand scheme of things, the tasteless exploitation of what would appear to be an extremely limited period of study with Segovia means little. The musical product of Esteban seems to fall back into a redundant pattern of chords that Mason Williams exhausted in the 1970's with "Classical Gas". what is truly disgusting is the dismal lack of quality in the guitars that are marketed. The quality is, in fact, even lower than the pieces of lumber with strings one finds in Wal Mart and drug stores.