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San Antonio native and conjunto legend Flaco Jiménez died on Thursday at the age of 86.
His family posted on Facebook that he died following a long illness at his son's home "surrounded by loved ones and will be missed immensely."
The family thanked fans and friends who have cherished his music over the years: "And a big thank you for all of the memories. His legacy will live on through his music and all of his fans. The family requests privacy during this time of sadness and grievance."
Over the course of his seven-decade career, Jiménez received numerous awards and honors, including five Grammys — more than The Eagles, Carol King, Reba McEntire, Mariah Carey and Billy Joel. He also received a sixth Grammy as a Lifetime Achievement Award.
"Flaco introduced the Tex-Mex Chicano sound to the country. To country music, to blues, to rock, to zydeco," said Josh Baca, the accordionist for Los Texmaniacs, during an interview with TPR earlier this year.
Conjunto, Texas-Mexican accordion music, has risen as a popular and culturally significant art form across South Texas and in northern Mexico. Its acknowledgement among the mainstream popular music industry emerged only relatively recently in the works of Jiménez.
Texas-Mexican conjunto traditionally employs a standard quartet of button accordion, bajo sexto (a 12-string Mexican bass guitar), electric bass (previously a tololoche, a Mexican upright bass), and drum set in an amalgamation of German polka music, Mexican musical traits, and—increasingly—a range of Latin American and U.S.-based styles.
The genre has served as a symbol of cultural identity among the rural, working-class Texas-Mexican population.
Born into a well-known conjunto family in San Antonio on March 11, 1939, Leonardo “Flaco” Jiménez began playing conjunto alongside his grandfather, Patricio, father, Santiago Sr., and brother Santiago Jr. (among other family members).
The singer grew up in San Antonio surrounded by a kaleidoscope of folkloric and more commercialized musical styles. Jiménez noted that he was interested in a range of music from a young age, gradually incorporating these disparate sounds into his own interpretations of conjunto.
"The accordion player is like a jazz musician: He improvises in between verses and during the song. And Flaco Jiménez is a master," said Felix Contreras, the co-host of NPR Music's Alt.Latino, in 2014.
Jiménez made a name for himself first onstage and in bars and cantinas across South Texas. He put out several albums even while he labored in obscurity.
Friend and musician Doug Sahm asked him to New York where he was recording an album. Author Joe Nick Patoski said this opened up a musical world to Jiménez “by taking him to New York for the Doug Sahm and band sessions in Atlantic Records, where he played with Dr John, Fathead Newman and Bob Dylan.”
Sahm had a wide and eclectic circle of musical friends, and he introduced Jiménez to all of them. He achieved mainstream prominence through his musical collaborations with artists like Ry Cooder, Dwight Yoakam, and the Rolling Stones. Jiménez played on the Stones’ "Voodoo Lounge" and Yoakam’s "Streets of Bakersfield."
Perhaps his highest visibility with a band was his time with The Texas Tornadoes. It was considered a Texas music supergroup, featuring Sahm, Augie Meyers, Freddy Fender, and Max Baca, and it saw several hits in the 1990s.
Max Baca described Jiménez's playing as magic: “His style of accordion playing is unique. He's got some kind of magic that it's hard to describe. You can only hear it and feel it. So that's his musical side that I'm attracted to ... but on a personal side, it's his humbleness. He's very humble.”
"The music was for the people," Josh Baca added. "If Flaco got on stage, you heard it, you knew it was Flaco."
Hector Saldaña, the music curator at the Wittliff Collections with Texas State University, said that Jiménez left a mark on San Antonio. “I've often told people that to truly understand Flaco Jiménez, what he means to San Antonio, he is our Satchmo," he explained. "He is the way that people think of Louis Armstrong and connect Louis Armstrong with New Orleans and jazz. That’s the way we think of Flaco.”
He once got to hear Lydia Mendoza when he was young. “He described her singing as like the stars falling out of the sky,” Saldaña added. I mean, that's as beautiful as any poetry you're going to find. And Flaco Jiménez was capable of that.”
Jiménez's health had been failing over the last several months, keeping him from being able to play the conjunto that gave his life meaning.
The U.S. Library of Congress described Jiménez as "a champion of traditional conjunto music and Tex-Mex culture" who is just as well known for innovation and collaboration.
His album "Partners" was selected for the National Recording Registry in 2021.
He was honored with the 2022 National Medal of the Arts but did not attend the ceremony at the White House because of ongoing health issues. He was hospitalized in January.
While he was a global ambassador for conjunto, Jiménez kept his home in San Antonio. He prioritized local performances throughout his career, headlining the Tejano Conjunto Festival for decades.
Saldaña said Jiménez infused his music with his love for his hometown: “I think something to understand is that Flaco Jiménez, when you have him on a session, he's delivering San Antonio. He's delivering the heart and soul of Texas to a song. So yes, he was playing with some big-time folks, but he was giving often more than he got.”
Funeral arrangements are pending.
