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Flaco Jiménez And The Legacy Of Conjunto

Flaco Jiménez and Max Baca.
Tom Pich
/
Courtesy of the artist
Flaco Jiménez and Max Baca.

Flaco Jiménez is in his seventh decade as a performer. He's played with Ry Cooder, Dwight Yoakam, and even The Rolling Stones. Jiménez's newest album, Legends & Legacies, is a collection of songs that illustrate the legacy of the Latin music style for which he is so well known: conjunto.

Felix Contreras, the co-host of NPR Music's Alt.Latino, recently guided NPR's Renee Montagne through the history of conjunto, which starts and ends with the accordion.

"The accordion player is like a jazz musician: He improvises in between verses and during the song. And Flaco Jiménez is a master," Contreras says.

Hear more of their conversation, including how collaborator Max Baca matches Jimenez' playing with touches of bluegrass guitar, at the audio link.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.