(1939----) Birthplace: San Antonio Genre: Tejano Conjunto Influenced: Helped bring international attention to Texas' rich Hispanic music tradition. Other Sites: Texas Tornados

Recordings of Tejano music have always had a following among Hispanics all over the United States, but the awareness of the larger audience was slow to develop until the 1970s. Much of the credit for the subsequent surge in interest must go to Flaco Jimenez. Flaco's renown as an experienced master musician in the regional style caught the ears of Chris Strachwitz of Arhoolie Records and exceptional blues guitarist Ry Cooder, which led to national tours and recording sessions on seminal albums. His subsequent recordings and collaborations took the sound of Tejano conjunto to an international audience.

Heir to a family tradition of accordionists going back to his grandfather Patricio, "Flaco" was named Leonardo by his parents, but as a performer quickly became known by his nickname, which means "skinny" (Flaco's father, Santiago, Sr., also referred to as "El Flaco" on his early recordings, is profiled in the section titled "The Swing Era"). The young Flaco started out in the early fifties accompanying Don Santiago on the bajo sexto, the foundation instrument in the conjunto band. Together they recorded the local standard "Los Tecolotes" in 1955.

Soon thereafter Flaco formed his own band to play on radio KEXX as Leonardo Jimenez y su Caparoles. At the end of 1955 the sixteen-year-old Jimenez and fellow teenage musician Henry Zimmerle were recruited by the more experienced Mike Garza and Richard Herrera for a band that became known as Los Caminantes. Los Caminantes already had a regular program over radio KCOR in San Antonio and played at clubs throughout the area, but the band really took off after acquiring the services of the two young musicians. In May 1956 Los Caminantes first recorded on the local Rio label and gained a Thursday evening slot on San Antonio's Channel 41, KCOR-TV. Within two years they were San Antonio's favorite Tex-Mex band.

By 1958 Flaco realized he could make it on his own and left Los Caminantes to record on the same label that featured his father's band. Popular enough during the sixties to make a good living playing largely around San Antonio, the young accordionist remained purely a local phenomenon until the seventies, when a string of recordings brought him international attention. San Antonian Doug Sahm, busting out of the Sir Douglas Quintet mode, tapped his talents for his 1973 album Doug Sahm and Band on which he played alongside Dr. John and Bob Dylan. Soon thereafter musical chameleon Ry Cooder recognized the energy of Jimenez's style, took him on tour, and featured his accordion on the highly successful Chicken Skin Music (1976), as well as the albums Showtime (1976), The Border (soundtrack to the historic film, 1980), and Get Rhythm (1987). Meanwhile, Flaco's solo talents led to recordings that have become benchmarks of Tejano music, starting with El Principe del Acordeon in 1977, and continuing with Flaco Jimenez y Su Conjunto and, with his brother Santiago, Jr., El Sonido de San Antonio (1980). The eighties saw further collaborations with Sahm, Cooder, and Linda Ronstadt as well as solo albums directed at a world audience, such as Tex-Mex Breakdown. In 1985 Flaco participated in the tribute album Homenaje a Don Santiago Jimenez, dedicated to the memory of his father, who died in 1984.

The nineties dawned with the classic collaboration of Freddy Fender, Augie Meyers, and Doug Sahm on The Texas Tornados, a huge international success, which was followed by the Tornados' Zone of Our Own in 1991 as well as further work for Arhoolie Records on Ay Te Dejo En San Antonio and other albums.

Today, Flaco Jimenez continues to record and tour internationally with universal respect and appreciation, both for his unique talent and the tradition his playing represents.