JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
The master of the Tex-Mex accordion, Leonardo Flaco Jimenez, has died at the age of 86. His tradition-drenched sound came to define conjunto or Tejano music of south Texas throughout a career that spanned more than 70 years. And he carried that sound to an international audience through his work with megastars across genres. NPR's John Burnett has our remembrance.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
JOHN BURNETT, BYLINE: There's a scene in the 1975 documentary "Chulas Fronteras" where Flaco Jimenez is playing at a dance in Texas. He's in a fancy cowboy shirt. He's dripping sweat. His gold teeth are flashing. He grins ecstatically while Mexican American couples swirl across the dance floor. His left hand flies across the buttons on his Hohner accordion as he sings of a trickster gringo who stole his girl away. Listen to the fills between phrases.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "UN MOJADO SIN LICENCIA")
FLACO JIMENEZ: (Singing in non-English language).
BURNETT: At this moment in the mid-'70s, Flaco was largely unknown outside of south Texas, still undiscovered by the Anglo music world. He would go on to collaborate with Ry Cooder, Dr. John, the Texas Tornados and Carlos Santana and win a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. But the essential Flaco - his nickname means skinny - never lost his roots in the rich musical traditions of Mexican Texas.
He picked up the instrument from his father, Santiago Jimenez Sr., one of the pioneers of conjunto. Don Santiago was influenced by the exuberant polkas played by German and Czech dance bands in south and central Texas. Flaco's brother, the late Santiago Jr., was also an accordion virtuoso who learned from their father. His considerable skills were overshadowed by his superstar brother. But Flaco said the boys got no formal instruction. In fact, Flaco taught himself to play without his father's permission, as he told NPR's Scott Simon in 2014.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT)
JIMENEZ: But I thought, well, I'm going to grab the accordion because Dad is still at work.
MAX BACA: He came home early.
JIMENEZ: He came early, you know? All of a sudden, he just opens the door. I said, oh, man, I'm going to get it.
SCOTT SIMON: Well, he must have been proud to hear you play that well.
JIMENEZ: Yeah. The first thing he did - he went straight to me and gave me a big, big hug and then started crying. See, he was so proud of me self-taught, you know, playing.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
BURNETT: While Flaco was a direct descendant of Santiago Sr.'s classic conjunto, he updated the squeeze box. Here he is playing his father's composition "Margarita" at an NPR Tiny Desk concert in 2012. The guitarist on the 12-string bajo sexto is Max Baca.
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JIMENEZ: (Singing) Margarita, margarita.
BURNETT: Flaco Jimenez became the A-list Tex-Mex accordian player for any artist who wanted that west-side, San Antonio cantina feel in their song. From the late-'80s through the '90s, he was popping up everywhere - on dates with Bob Dylan, Dwight Yoakam and here with the Rolling Stones.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SWEETHEARTS TOGETHER")
THE ROLLING STONES: (Singing) Two hearts together as one, as one.
JOSH BACA: And Flaco brought that Mexican American Tex-Mex feel to the blues, to the rock, to the country. He brought that sound to those different genres.
BURNETT: Josh Baca is Max's nephew, a rising accordion star from San Antonio. He plays with Los Texmaniacs. He was a protege of Flaco's.
J BACA: When you would turn on the radio, you know, oh, man, that's Flaco. You know it's him playing the accordion. Flaco has always stayed true to his sound and to what he plays.
BURNETT: He also stayed true to his hometown, San Antonio, the undisputed conjunto capital. Music writer Hector Saldana has said that Flaco Jimenez was to San Antonio what Louis Armstrong was to New Orleans.
HECTOR SALDANA: In San Antonio, he is beloved, and he was the greatest ambassador of conjunto music worldwide. It's unbelievable that just recently, I was talking with some visitors from Germany, and they were asking questions about Flaco Jimenez.
BURNETT: During his long life, Flaco Jimenez influenced a generation of talented young accordionists with the music that he always described as alegre - happy. John Burnett, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AY TE DEJO EN SAN ANTONIO")
JIMENEZ: (Singing in non-English language). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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