Accordion master Flaco Jimenez has died at 86

The master of the Tex-Mex accordion Leonardo “Flaco” Jimenez, whose tradition-drenched sound came to define conjunto or Tejano music of South Texas, has died. Throughout a career that spanned more than 70 years, he carried that sound to an international audience through his work with megastars across genres. He was 86 years old.

A statement posted by his family on Jimenez’s official Facebook page did not provide a cause of death.

“It is with great sadness that we share tonight the loss of our father, Flaco Jimenez,” the statement reads. “He was surrounded by his loved ones and will be missed immensely. Thank you to all of his fans and friends — those who cherished his music. 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.”

There is a scene in the legendary 1976 documentary, Chulas Fronteras, where Flaco is playing at a dancehall in South Texas. He’s wearing 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. The fingers on right hand fly across his Hohner button accordion as he sings of the trickster gringo who stole his girl away.

At this moment in the mid-’70s, Flaco was largely unknown outside of Spanish-speaking 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 accordion 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 oom-pah dance bands in South and Central Texas.

“He (my dad) liked it that much that he got hold of a one-row accordion somehow and started learning how to copy the German polkas,” Flaco told NPR in 2003. “Then he started playing around the neighborhood where he lived, just local house dances.”

Flaco’s brother, Santiago Jr., is also an accordion virtuoso who learned from their father. His considerable skills were overshadowed by his superstar brother. But Flaco said he and his brother received no formal instruction. In 2014, Flaco told NPR’s Scott Simon that he taught himself without his father’s permission.

“I wanted to grab the accordion because dad is still at work. He came home early. All of a sudden he just opens the door and I said, ‘Oh man, I’m going to get it,’ ” Flaco recalled. But instead of being mad, his father was pleased. “The first thing he did, he went straight to me, he gave me a big, big hug and then started crying. See, he was so proud of my self-taught playing.”

Flaco Jimenez became the A-list Tex-Mex accordionist for any artist who wanted that west-side San Antonio baile feel in their song. From the late ’80s through the ’90s, he was popping up everywhere, recording with artists as varied as Bob Dylan, Dwight Yoakum, and the Rolling Stones.

“Flaco Jimenez brought that Tex-Mex, Mexican-American feel to the blues, to rock, to country,” said Josh Baca, another San Antonio accordionist and protégé of Flaco’s, who plays with Los Texmaniacs.

During his long life, Flaco influenced a generation of talented young accordion players with the music that he always described as alegre, happy. “When you would turn on the radio, you know, oh man, that’s Flaco!” Baca said, “You know it’s him playing the accordion. Flaco has always stayed true to his sound and to what he plays.”

He also stayed true to his hometown of San Antonio, the undisputed conjunto capital.

“In San Antonio, he is beloved and he was the greatest ambassador of conjunto music worldwide,” said Hector Saldaña, Texas music curator at the Wittliff Collections at Texas State University. “Just recently I was talking with some visitors from Germany and they were asking questions about Flaco Jimenez.”

Saldana has written that Flaco Jimenez was to San Antonio what Louis Armstrong was to New Orleans.