He was a featured soloist on Mexico City's Radio Station XEW, when he was 10. At age 18, he was already composing and conducting his own 22 piece band. Constant exposure on radio (8 broadcasts per week), theater work and appearing on concert stages gave him great popularity. He was always experimenting, adding new and unique instruments, and by the 1950's, he had a 54 piece band.

It is interesting to note that the shows on XEW were live, and this did cause some problems with the personnel at times. For example, sidemen would often go to a local bar and drink rigth up to rehearsal time. When they appeared at the studio, they were not always quite ready to rehearse. It was then that Esquivel realized that a leader not only had to be a musician, but also a strict disciplinarian. This caused him to promulgate his now famous (or infamous) "The Rules and Regulations of Belonging to the Esquivel Organization" which everyone had to sign. It called for fines for overweight dancers; people who were late to rehearsal, and fines for performers who married without notice to the band, and such.

Along with the Esquivel orchestra, Louis Alcarez amd Perez Prado were extremely popular bands in Mexica City, in that time.

In 1958, Esquivel was brought to Hollywood by Herman Diaz, Jr., the manager and producer for RCA Victor. His first album release was "To Love Again". The second release was "Other Worlds, Other Music", recorded in Hollywood with a 26 piece orchestra. He had his third album released in 1958 with "Four Corners of the World". This album was recorded during those times that were left free during his first two sessions, and spotlighted Esquivel on piano in a flute-bass-drums setting.

In 1959, two more records were released; "Exploring New Sounds in Hi Fi". This was a monophonic record, and "Exploring New Sounds in Stereo" was the stereo version. These were his first recordings. One of the songs was "Spellbound" on which Esquivel used a theremin played by Samuel Hoffman.

At RCA, Esquivel had something of a 'Budget Be Damned' attitude. But, RCA gave him all the facilities he wanted. They never said no to any of his ideas. At that time, he was recording in Los Angeles and had to get in touch with New York, - that is, with his producer, Nealy Plumb. Johnnie Comacho was the producer's man in the studio at the time of the recording. Nealy Plumb was the man in charge of the money; seeing that the recording didn't go over a certain amount of hours, etc.

Esquivel then went to New York City for a year. While there, he contributed a half dozen arrangements to various RCA albums for other artists. He also cut another of his own records "The Merriest of Christmas Pops" in 1959.

He arranged and conducted for "Hello Amigos", the 1960 Ames Brothers vocal quartet release. Unknown to many folks, he also conducted on an album released as "In a Mellow Mood", under the name of "The Living Strings". It was fairly unctuous type music, yet Esquivel's piano, playing under the strings, gave it a certain charm.

Returning to Hollywood, in 1960, he released two more albums, "The Infinity of Sound" volumes 1 and 2. (Album 1 was in Hi FI - Mono, and album 2 was in Stereo, and the contents were not quite the same.) Some of Esquivel's music from Volume 2 was heard on comedian Ernie Kovacs' shows. "Sentimental Journey" was choreographed for a sketch of Office Furniture dancing around a room. "Cherokee" was choregraphed for a sketch of kitchen appliances dancing with a stuffed turkey.

Some of his works that received Grammy nominations were:
"Other Worlds" 1958
"Strings Aflame" 1959
"Infinity of Sound" 1960

In 1962, RCA released his wildest and most ambitious effort, "Latin-Esq", as part of their Stereo Action Series of discs. It was billed as 'The Sound Your Eyes Can Follow.' The title was a play on the 'Latin' theme of the record, and 'Esq' for Esquivel. To insure a pure stereo sound, 1/2 of the orchestra, under leader Esquivel, played in Studio 1. The other half of the orchestra, under leader Stanley Wilson, played in Studio 2, a block away. The musicians were sync'ed by click tracks that they could hear in their headphones. The conductors were coordinated by closed circuit TV.

In 1962, he left RCA to record "More of Other Worlds" for Reprise Records. Esquivel never went back to RCA. Also, around the 1962 period, he started to do work for Universal Studios, then called 'Revue Studios'.

At height of career, Esquivel took a studio hiatus of 5 years, and developed a stage show called "The Sights and Sounds of Esquivel", that played in Lake Tajoe and Las Vegas. This was a much smaller group (often just a sextet ot septet) than what he had been working with. In Las Vegas, he put together a 26 piece orchestra that played in the Stardust Hotel.

In 1967, RCA released an album called "The Genius of Esquivel", which featured a pared down combo, instead of his big band. And, again in 1968, RCA released "Esquivel '68" for RCA. Apparently, these had been recorded years earlier with his small group 'The Sights and Sounds of Esquivel', that played Tajoe and Las Vegas, and had been kept 'in the can' for the later release.

In 1964, still experimenting with instruments and electronic effects, he appeared in San Francisco's Bimbo's 365 Club. At this show, his band included a lighting technician for control of dramatic effects.

In 1965, Esquivel auditioned a talented young vocalist-dancer named Yvonne De Bourbon, who then became the band's vocalist and also did some dancing in the shows. She took over the duties of business manager from 1969 to 1975. She managed the bookings for shows, handled contracts, and even arranged for the moving of 1500 lbs of heavy band equiptment. She did more than that. In 1973, she became Esquivel's third wife. (Throughout his career, Esquivel's name was amorously linked to many women.)
He and Yvonne De Bourbon were divorced in 1978.

In Hollywood, Esquivel worked on such shows as Markham, The Tall Man, and the Bob Cummings Show. He recorded many short music pieces for Universal TV, which were used in the soundtracks of TV Sitcoms.

At times, The Esquivel Orchestra had such men as:
Stan Getz: sax
Laurindo Almieda: guitar,
Alvino Rey: steel guitar.
Muzzy Marcelino: often as a whistler.
Pete Condoli in the trumpets.
Frank Rosolino.
George Roberts: bass trombone.
Larry Bunker: drums and also bongos.
Jack Castanzo: bongos
Joe Loco.
Buddy Cole: Organ (later had his own orchestra.)
The Randy Van Horne Singers vocal group.
All the arrangements, all the vocals and combo arrangements, were always done by Juan Esquivel.

Among the men whom Esquivel admired and who may have influenced him were Pete Rugolo, the arranger for the Stan Kenton orchestra. Esquivel loved his "Artistry in Rhythm" and often played that record while he was still living in Mexico City. He dreamed of having the ability to write for the trumpets the way that Pete Rugolo did. Among other musicians he admired were Lalo Schifrin, Johnny Williams, and Henry Mancini. Esquivel considered Stan Kenton and Henry Mancini to be true musical geniuses.

In 1992, Esquivel visited his brother in Mexico City. Exiting a taxicab, he fell and fractured his hip, aggravating an old spinal injury. He has been confined to bed ever since.