Leonardo “Flaco” Jimenez, the Tex-Mex accordion master whose tradition-infused sound came to characterize South Texas’s conjunto or Tejano music, passed away. Through his collaborations with megastars in a variety of genres, he brought that sound to a global audience during the course of a career that lasted more than 70 years. He was eighty-six.
Jimenez’s family did not disclose a cause of death in a statement that was put on his official Facebook page.
“It is with great sadness that we share tonight the loss of our father, Flaco Jimenez,” said the statement. “He will be sorely missed and was surrounded by his loved ones. We are grateful to all of his friends and admirers who loved his music. I also want to express my gratitude for all of the memories. His music and all of his fans will carry on his legacy. During this period of grief and anger, the family asks privacy.
The renowned 1976 documentary Chulas Fronteras features a sequence in which Flaco performs in a South Texas dancehall. He’s dressed in an elegant cowboy shirt. He’s sweating profusely. He’s flaunting his gold teeth. As Mexican-American couples dance around the dance floor, he smiles wildly. As he sings about the cunning gringo who took his girl away, his right hand’s fingers dance across his Hohner button accordion.
At this point in the mid-1970s, Flaco was still relatively obscure to the Anglo music community outside of Spanish-speaking Texas. He would later win a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and work with Carlos Santana, Dr. John, Ry Cooder, and the Texas Tornados.
However, the crucialFlaco, whose nickname means “skinny,” has never forgotten his roots in the rich Mexican Texas musical heritage.
His father, Santiago Jimenez Sr., one of the conjunto pioneers, taught him how to play the accordion. The lively polkas performed by German and Czech oom-pah dance bands in South and Central Texas had an impact on Don Santiago.
“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 the year 2003. “Then he started playing around the neighborhood where he lived, just local house dances.”
Santiago Jr., Flaco’s brother, also plays the accordion and learned from their father. His celebrity brother overshadowed his excellent skills. However, Flaco said that neither he nor his brother had any official training. Flaco admitted to teaching himself without his father’s consent to Scott Simon of NPR in 2014.
Dad is still at work, so I wanted to get the accordion. He arrived home early. ‘Oh man, I’m going to get it,’ I exclaimed as he abruptly opened the door. Flaco remembered. His father, however, was thrilled rather than angry. “He approached me right away, gave me a huge embrace, and then broke down in tears. He was really pleased with my self-taught playing, you see.
When an artist sought to incorporate a sense of the west side of San Antonio into their song, Flaco Jimenez became the go-to Tex-Mex accordionist. He was recording with a wide range of artists, including the Rolling Stones, Dwight Yoakum, and Bob Dylan, from the late 1980s to the 1990s.
“Flaco Jimenez brought that Tex-Mex, Mexican-American feel to the blues, to rock, to country,” said Josh Baca, another accordionist and Flaco’s protégé from San Antonio who performs with Los Texmaniacs.
Throughout his lengthy life, Flaco’s music—which he consistently referred to as “alegre,” or “happy,”—had an impact on a generation of gifted young accordion players. “When you would turn on the radio, you know, oh man, that’s Flaco!” “You know it’s him playing the accordion,” Baca added. Flaco has consistently remained loyal to his style and musical compositions.
Additionally, he remained loyal to his hometown of San Antonio, the indisputable center of the Conjunto region.
Hector Salda, a Texas music curator at Texas State University’s Wittliff Collections, said, “He was the greatest ambassador of conjunto music worldwide and is adored in San Antonio.” “Just recently I was talking with some visitors from Germany and they were asking questions about Flaco Jimenez.”
According to Saldana, Louis Armstrong was to New Orleans what Flaco Jimenez was to San Antonio.
Copyright 2025 NPR
