Flaco Jimenez, the legendary accordionist from San Antonio, who won several Grammys and expanded the popularity of Cjunto, Tejano and Tex-Mex music, died on Thursday. He was 86.
Jimenez ‘Death was announced on Thursday evening by his family on social media. He was surrounded by family members when he died in the San Antonio house of his son Arturo Jimenez.
“Dad was in peace when he went. He said goodbye a few days earlier. He said he was proud of what he had done and he only reminds the public to enjoy it. He said he was ready to go,” said Arturo Jimenez of Associated Press on Friday in a telephone interview.
Arturo Jimenez said that a cause of death had not yet been determined. His father was hospitalized in January after getting a blood clot in his leg. The doctors then found that he had some vascular problems.
Born Leonardo Jimenez in 1939 he was known to his fans through his nickname of Flaco, which means thin in Spanish.
He was the son of Konjunto pioneer Santiago Jimenez. Conjunto is a musical genre that comes from South Texas and combines various genres and cultural influences.
According to the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas in Austin, the development of Conjunto “began an interest in the accordion music of German, Polish and Czech immigrants more than a century ago when the Texans of the Mexican heritage (Tejanos) began.
Jimenez refined his conjunto musical skills by playing in Saloons and dance halls in San Antonio. In the 1960s he began with the colleague Douglas Sahm, who was born from San Antonio, the founding member of Sir Douglas. Jimenez later played with Bob Dylan, Dr. John, Ry Cooder and the Rolling Stones.
Throughout his career, Jimenez added Konjunto music to other influences, including from Country, Rock and Jazz.
“He always wanted to try to integrate accordion in all types of various genres and how to insert the accordion. It was always a fascination with him and he was able to do it,” said Arturo Jimenez.
In the 1990s, Jimenez was part of the Tejano Supergroup The Texas Tornados, which included Sahm, Augie Meyers and Freddy Fender. The group won a Grammy for the song “Soy de San Luis” in 1991.
Jimenez won another Grammy in 1999 as part of another super group, Los Super Seven.
Jimenez received five Grammys and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015.
He was also included in the National Hispanic Hall of Fame and the NYC International Latin Music Hall of Fame and appointed Texas State Musician in 2014.
Arturo Jimenez said his father was a modest man who never wanted to become a showman and focused on playing music for his fans.
“I saw where the fans come to him and they literally cry, and they thank my father for all the good music and how the music was there for them in several situations, either happiness or sadness,” said Arturo Jimenez.
When Jimenez was appointed in 2022 National medal of the arts recipientsThe White House said that he was honored because he “used inheritance to enrich American music” and by “mixture of Norteño, Tex Mex and Tejano music with the blues, rock n ‘roll and pop music sings the soul of America’s southwest”.
“We appreciate the gift of her musical talent, which gave joy countless fans. Her death leaves an emptiness in our hearts,” said Texas Conjunto Music Hall of Fame and Museum in a contribution to social media.
Kyle Young, the CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, said that Jimenez was “a paragon of the Tejano -Konjunto -Music”, who “millions of listeners in a rich musical world that may not have discovered”, “into a rich musical world”.
Jimenez lived his whole life in San Antonio, a city that was “very close to his heart”, said his son.
“They call him ‘El Hijo de San Antonio’ and my father was always proud of it,” said Arturo Jimenez, quoting a Spanish sentence that means the son of San Antonio.
His family plans to have a private funeral service, followed by a celebration of his life with the public.
