Flaco Jimenez

Flaco Jimenez

Squeeze Box King (Compadre) For a musical tradition born in dusty back yards and reared in border cantinas, conjunto music -- real, old-school conjunto featuring bajo sexto, accordion, and guitar -- has come a long way to become a celebrated American roots music. That's what makes Squeeze Box King, the new album by the legendary SBK Flaco Jimenez, such a treat. Drums, bass, and other instrumentation keeps the disc from being puro conjunto, but that's not as important as the sentiment behind this album, Jimenez's first in three years. Stirring boleros, rousing rancheras, and the occasional cumbia make up the 11 tracks here, opening with the classic polka, "In Heaven There Is No Beer" sung in Spanish, English, and Dutch. The haunting bolero "Tan Solo," while sounding very Old World, is actually a recent tune by Antonio Grazanieto from the Parisian conjunto Los Gallos. The prolific Salomé Gutiérrez provides two of the album's bouncy rancheras, "De Donde Has Sacado," and "La Tormenta." Jimenez's stylish touch on the squeeze box shines on all, but is most lilting and plaintive in the tenderly delivered conjunto standard, "Prenda del Alma." The one complaint comes on "Soy Romantico," a bolero dreamily sung by Raul "Nunie" Rubio, which is dampened by the inclusion of English lyrics. In spite of this, Squeeze Box King is a solid collection of traditional conjunto tunes by one of the most respected bearers of the tradition. (CD release, Jovita's, Saturday, Oct. 18)