From: Norm Johnson
For: Jan. 7, 2013
MEDIA ALERT MEDIA ALERT MEDIA ALERT
He plays a guitar and his daughter plays a violin. There are a lot of men and women who play guitars and violins, but not like this pair. The team are professionally known as the legendary, Esteban, and his daughter, Teresa Joy, and her magical violin. What the duo do with their instruments, most musicians only dream of doing.
Esteban and Teresa, opened Thursday, Dec. 27, for a three month engagement in the Shimmer Cabaret, at the LVH Hotel (formerly the Hilton), where they present a completely new show, “Music From the Heart,” every Thursday and Friday evening at 8:30 p.m. In January the duo adds Saturday nights on the 5th, 12th and 19th to the schedule.
Esteban was born Stephen Paul in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a son of a steel mill worker, which was expected to be the youngster’s destiny when he grew old enough to go to work. But fate stepped in when he was given a guitar at the age of eight. After years of self-study, Paul chose to attend the Carnegie Mellon University, when he was offered a musical scholarship in classical guitar. Following graduation, he pursued one more dream, to meet and hopefully talk the Master of the Classical guitar, Andres Segovia to let him study in his Masters class. After nearly two-years of writing notes, Stephen was invited to audition for the great one in Los Angeles, and was accepted as a student. After completion of those classes, Paul was asked to study privately with the teacher in his famous 4th floor studio in Madrid. After four years, the Master thought his Paul was ready to leave. In 1978, he gave him the name that would become legendary, “Esteban.”
No sooner had Esteban began to play the guitar and make a living in America, than fate again stepped in and almost destroyed his dream. On a dark highway in Arizona, Esteban was driving home when a drunk driver crossed into his lane and hit him head-on. But, God still had plans for him. When he left the hospital, he was blind in one eye, and his left arm was almost useless with terrible nerve damage. For the next 10 years, he would exercise his arms, and play the guitar, praying for his arm to heal so he could play like he had been taught. Near the end of the ‘80s, Esteban’s left arm felt strong and powerful once again. He could play the guitar like Segovia had taught him. Since then his recordings have topped the Billboard charts many times, with numerous top 10 albums, videos and DVDs. The masterful guitarist has gone where no other guitarist has ever been: featured on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, and has set record-setting sales on the Home Shopping Network that will never be topped.
During his recovery, his daughter, Teresa Joy Paul, began playing the violin, and, by the age of seven, was studying with the noted violinist, Moshe Bukhspan. Teresa went on to join the Arizona Metropolitan Youth Symphony, and graduated from the New School for the Arts in Scottsdale, Ariz. When she was 15, Esteban asked Teresa to join him in recording a Christmas Album, “What Child is This,” which went on to top the Billboard Charts. Teresa has been touring with her father since 2004, and not only is she a dynamic violinist, but she dances like a gypsy on stage, feeling every note that lives inside her heart and soul.
Esteban’s concerts are memorable moments of the heart and soul, and range from classical music like, “Fuego Muleguena,” to Pop music like Elvis’ “Love Me Tender,” andthe Beatles, “Eleanor Rigby.” For more information and prices, call the LVH box office at 702-732-5111, or 800-222-5361, and on the internet at www.theLVH.com.
Evan Davis Jazz Blog 