Skip to main content

The greatest accordionist in the world, Esteban Jordan, has one more song to play for you


Esteban Jordan, 67, "El Parche," who many call the Jimi Hendrix of the accordion, who plays what is simply impossible on the accordion, esta muy enfermo.

The last time I heard him play, he played a shorter set, and without the electric thunder of the past.

If you've ever heard him play, you will never forget it. The grammy-nominated master accordionist is our Paco D'Lucia, Hendrix, and Astor Piazzolla: Fire, cantina, and the grace of hell reside in his hands, and in those blinded eyes that have seen too much.

Esteban, born in the South Texas Valley and a son of a migrant family who didn't get an education, is notoriously difficult and protective of his music and image. It's the reason you may not know who he is, but now you do.

The only place to hear him in San Antonio is at Salute on Friday nights, accompanied by two of his accomplished sons and the prodigy Juanito on the drums. Lately, he's been playing less sets with longer intermissions. Azeneth Dominguez, the owner of the venerable bar on St. Mary's that specializes in jazzy, twisty, and rocknroll conjunto, is thinking of shutting down because - it's breaking her to keep it open. The sophisticated audience at Salute has included Juan Tejeda, Flaco Jimenez (who used to go hear Esteban play), assorted conjunto freaks, Los Macarturos, labor organizers, and even the anti-polkista Sandra Cisneros back in the day.

"When you go hear Esteban, get on for the ride," says artist Joan Frederick, a twenty-year veterana of Esteban's houevre. She remembers the time that Azeneth brought mariachis into the bar to serenade Esteban for his birthday, and how the mariachis played and played for him, and how Esteban knew the words to all the songs, and made the rancheras even better somehow, different, una locura, infinite.

Esteban, you have my life in your accordion.


photo credit: www.estebanjordan.com
Labels:

Comments

Dos Centavos said…
Oh...Jordan is my favorite old-schooler! And I was just kidding around!! My friend Ofelia Faz from Dallas has to be one of your biggest fans!

Good luck with your book. I'm trying to write something in realm of La Politica, so I hope it takes shape soon.

Hopefully, we can meet up again soon, ya que somos Blog-colegas! ha ha.

Hasta pronto,

Stace Medellin
DosCentavos.net
9:33 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mary Alice, wife of Henry Cisneros, finds her voice in San Antonio as women battle for Free Speech in the Streets

She's a delicate bird of a woman, petite and beautifully apparelled. I know her husband, and she looks up to her supremely intelligent, charismatic, but scared of the status-quo husband. I suspect that she became a San Antonio councilwoman as a result of his lanky shadow. No matter. Yesterday, la Mary Alice stood up to the Man along with Councilwoman Lourdes Galvan and voted on the side of the Constitution and women's rights as one of two women on the San Antonio City Council who recognizes that anti-war or anti-immigrant protestors should be able to march on the streets without having to pay thousands of dollars for the privilege. While the city-wide Fiesta! bacchanal takes over the streets for weeks. With a vote of 9-2, the San Antonio City Council overwhelmingly voted to pass a new "Parade" Ordinance yesterday despite the organized protest of free speech advocates - mostly women - who believe that the City Council is violating the First Amendment of its citiz...
Post a Comment
Read more

A battered woman from San Antonio loses her reporting job

Gina Galaviz , 43, KSAT-TV's I-love-the-police reporter, "has been fired" from the television station , according to the San Antonio Express-News, and I'm quoting verbatim here from Jeanne Jakle's byline, "after she was charged with assault following a fight with her boyfriend," Ronald Aguillen, 46. Ok, so we in San Antonio know about the time in 2004 when Gina filed charges against another boyfriend, the former SWAT cop, who was a councilman at-the-time, Ron Segovia . There were allegations of an apple being thrown at her nalgas, which humiliated her, and that he also pointed a gun at her. It was not the first time, she told me. Tough-guy Segovia got off - I think he had three attorneys representing him if I remember correctly, and in this city, like too many, the cops are in bed with the grand jury - they need and depend on each other, and this grand jury decided there "wasn't enough evidence to pursue a criminal case against him." Seg...
3 comments
Read more
Today is Tuesday, May 3rd, and so much has happened.  A brain tumor.  More yoga and walking.  A little less combat.  Weight dropping.  Spirit rising.  Back in the city, where I belong.  Looking for good photos to give you, organizing my crazy files.  And a new President!  So much to say, more than beating up on him -- that will only take us so far.  Time to hit the streets, challenge the fears that he represents.  Don't be afraid, no tengan miedo.  If I survived a massive brain tumor -- big as a grapefruit -- we can survive and transcend this. More tomorrow.  One day a week from now on. 
2 comments
Read more