Flaco Jiménez Remembered
When he first started playing music there was no such genre as World. Nor for that matter was there such a thing as Rock & Roll. Hailing from Texas in the mid 1940’s, he maybe knew his music as Tejano or Norteno.
Whatever it was called or whatever it might have been called then or now, Flaco Jimenez knew that it made people happy and happy people like to dance.
So when Rock & Roll came to be a few years later, he surly must have noticed the similar effect Rock had on its audience as Tejano music had on Flaco’s audience. How many times his path may have crossed with the Rockers of the 1950’s and 1960’s, I can’t say.
The recorded evidence of such collaborations elude me and my meager research budget…make that my nonexistent budget. So excuse my historical error here, assuming one exists.
As the 1970’s dawned, however, the time for collaboration- for something new and different in Rock music — was at hand. Obviously just the rolling of the calendar meant that the 1960’s were over but that finality wasn’t just a matter of dates on a piece of paper hung on the side of the fridge.
Generational milestones were receding rapidly. Monterey, Woodstock and Altamont were done for better or worse. Several Rock icons of the era had sadly passed and — as if on cue with the closing of the decade — The Beatles went defunct. I would add that with the election of Richard Nixon, the political winds of the zeitgeist were shifting right.
Into that flux stepped one slightly deranged Texas Hippie who had an idea to drop all previous pretenses and actually set the music of his native State in the context of Rock. This would be the first flower of what some would call World music but, last I checked, Texas was part of the United States. The name of our hippie, by the way, is Doug Sahm.
One of the key people Doug recruited in his effort was one Flaco Jiménez. Since I was not in the room, I can’t say how many of their recorded ideas were his but quite clearly his accordion playing within a Rock context must have been — at the time — as far outside the mainstream of the genre as is possible. And if you believe over-wise, that is fine because aesthetically there is no denying the beauty and fun in his playing with Doug and then Ry Cooder.
And it is Flaco Jiménez’s collaborations with Doug and Ry that moved me to write this tribute. Flaco’s passing came with many well written and deserved praise for his own Grammy award winning music but his contributions to Rock have been given scant notice in most of the tributes I have read. This is particularly true of his work with Ry whom he recorded with for over 30 years.
In all those tributes, I found barely a mention of Ry. As for Doug it was mostly only within the context of their work together with The Texas Tornados. Obviously, a tribute should focus on the person who’s life has passed on. But in this case, that is not the case. The reason, I want to focus on Flaco within the context of his work with Ry and Doug is not to elevate them but to acknowledge yet another aspect of Flaco’s literally influential career.
Without Flaco’s playing with Ry and Doug, would there be a Los Lobos? A Mavericks? What would be the state of World music had he not collaborated with those two artists in the early 1970’s? Would Rock music itself have been as interesting and diverse? Who can say?
But we can listen and enjoy every note and be grateful that we do not have to ponder the alternative. Thanks Flaco and I hope you and Doug are playing somewhere where the beer is cold, the tacos plump and spicy and the dance floor full.
The Dozen:
Is Anybody Going To San Antonio — Doug Sahm: From 1973. Now this is what all revolutions should be about: drunken fun.
Chicano — Doug Sahm — Texas Tornado: Back in 1973, some Rock fans may have wondered what Norteno music might sound like and some may have wondered if it would meld well with Country Rock. One listen here and all their questions were answered.
He’ll Have To Go — Ry Cooder — Chicken Skin Music: Of all the many versions of this song — and there are many — few can convey the heartbreaking pathos of the lyrics. Certainly not Ry who doesn’t have the most expressive voice in Rock. Instead, Flaco delivers the tears here. Listen to every weeping note he plays.
Tattler — Ry Cooder from Saturday Night Live: I remember watching this performance as a kid and being struck by the odd band that surrounded the man in the floral print shirt playing the beautiful pale blue Fender electric guitar.
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I might have been off in my visual assessment as we had a very shitty color TV in the 1970’s but here is that band: Flaco Jiménez on accordion in a Mexican style blue leisure suit, Jesse Ponce on bajo sexto, Henry Ojeda on bass, Isaac Garcia on drums and Pat Rizzo on saxophone.
No matter how you adjusted the reception, those cats didn’t look like your typical Rock band of the era especially when you added in two stunningly sweet voiced — and imposing — African American singers named Bobby King and Terry Evans.
I would suppose that this must have been the first national glimpse of American style World music and it couldn’t have been any more dramatic and just plain fun. See for yourself if you can find it but there is an Old Gray Whistle clip from the same tour as the SNL appearance which is readily available.
Viva Seguin — Ry Cooder — Show Time: A Woody Guthrie song turned into a double time Tejano hot stepper.
Volver, Volver — Ry Cooder — Show Time: Years before Los Lobos covered this well known Mexican Mariachi Ballard, Ry and Flaco covered it. By the way, this and the previous tune are the SNL Cooder band. Just treat yourself to the entire album.
The Girls From Texas — Ry Cooder — Borderline: Swing time again.
Get Rhythm — Ry Cooder — Get Rhythm: A Cooder speciality: take a classic Rock tune, change the arrangement a bit and add in some World or Soul elements. This one is World but check out Little Sister from Bop Till You Drop for some Soul.
Ejercito Militar — Ry Cooder — Chavez Ravine: As part of a trio of concept albums in the early 2000’s, Ry took on the forced dispossession of Mexican American residents from Chavez Ravine to make way for Dodger Stadium…and you might of thought such things didn’t happen after the turn of the last century.
While Flaco was originally from Texas, the struggles of Mexican Americans in the country as a whole likely resonated with him. Given their past working relationship, Flaco’s participation in the Chavez concept seemed both natural and inevitable.
I should add that the style and arrangements on Chavez are not strictly Blues, Soul or Tejano as you might expect from Ry and company. Overall, the musicians attempted a more modern Alternative Pop sound. The entire album is worth a listen just on that basis alone. This track, however, is dominated by Flaco and is pure Norteno.
There Is A Bright Side Somewhere — Ry Cooder — My Name Is Buddy: A heartbreaking cross Cultural spiritual. As humans struggle for meaning in an often difficult world, it is songs like this that restore faith.
Here the heart moves and melts as Flaco weaves his accordion in and out of the arrangement. A fitting tribute at the time of his passing.
Filipino Dancehall Girl — Ry Cooder — I, Flathead: Another cultural mashup. Guess what Flaco provided.
El Corrido De Jesse James — Pull Up Some Dust And Sit Down: Another towering mix of Southwestern cultures, similar to the approach taken by Ry and Flaco on the live version of Do Ri Me. This one should be in the Smithsonian along with He’ll Have To Go and There Is A Bright Side.
Pull Up was released in 2011. This was followed in 2013 with a live album culled from the Pull Up tour. Flaco was part of that live album but not Ry’s 2018 follow-up, The Prodigal Son.
In one sense that is understandable, Ry seems to have chosen his backing bands based on his pending material. Flaco’s talents may not have been needed for what he had in mind at the time. Then again, maybe he was sick or just otherwise unavailable. It seems he was likely not present for the Prodigal tour as well. I just do not know.
So it may be that the 2013 live album will be the last release of Ry’s and Flaco’s work together. Since Ry is about to turn 80, Prodigal may be Ry’s last album. What makes this all extra poignant is that Prodigal might be one of Ry’s best albums ever. It’s themes and sentiments align almost perfectly with everything he had already achieved with Flaco.
Had Prodigal been a collaboration, it could have been one last glorious monument to what Ry and Flaco had been expressing to us for the last 40 plus years. And what exactly is that? That our Cultural differences do not have to be defined by suspicion but by a mutual love we share as human beings. A love for music and each other.
I will assume Ry and Flaco were close friends on some level. Do I know that as a certainty? No but I have ears and the music here suggests a love for their Cultures, their Country, each other and ultimately us because they were willing to share their talents with us.
I am thankful to them both for that and there is a sweet accordion playing somewhere in the by and by because that is one of the many sounds of eternity.
