Bob Thompson

This light-pop artist known as the “poor man's Esquivel” must be distinguished from the jazz musician who later bore the identical name. Born in San Jose, California, in 1924, he financed his studies at the University of California at Berkeley by performing after his high-school band days. Radio work at KMBC and KGO in San Francisco followed.

A 1950 engagement in Paris with Jacqueline François opened the way to further recording dates overseas, including the Far East, and on both U.S. coasts. Although he produced and arranged for Judy Garland, Bing Crosby, and other headliners, those assignments bore no connection to the bachelor-playboy persona cultivated on his own LPs. On the Rocks, for instance, carries a notorious photograph of a bikini-clad brunette apparently seated inside a highball glass.

RCA’s decision to append wordless choruses accounts for the chief resemblance between his solo discs and those of Esquivel, underscoring that the music was meant as light listening. Conceived chiefly to accompany home entertaining, the albums stand as textbook examples of “music for a space-age bachelor pad.” Their atmosphere recalls the romantic comedies of the period: infectious, “surprising” flourishes appear throughout, worldly savoir-faire and taste remain constant, the material is competent rather than inspired, and nothing ever becomes genuinely unsettling. Backed by seasoned session players such as Larry Bunker, the results nevertheless rise well above routine easy listening.