Esteban "Steve" Jordan (February 23, 1939 –
August 13, 2010) was a jazz, rock, blues, conjunto and Tejano musician from the
United States. He was also known as "El Parche", "The Jimi
Hendrix of the accordion", and "the accordion wizard". An
accomplished musician, he played 35 different instruments.
Born in Elsa, Texas to migrant farm workers and partially
blinded as an infant, Jordan was unable to work in the fields. Left at home, he
found friendship and guidance among the elderly. At a very young age he was
introduced to music, especially the accordion. At the time, the musician
Valerio Longoria followed the community of migrant farm workers and played for
them in the labor camps. These circumstances brought the two together and the
young Esteban mastered the instrument quickly. While he has remained close to
his traditional conjunto roots, he has never limited himself musically. More
than any other accordionist, Jordan pushes the diatonic accordion to its
limits, both musically and physically, playing traditional conjunto, rock,
jazz, salsa, zydeco and more.
Here's "Las Coranelas" taken from above album.
Unlike many conjunto musicians, he kept abreast of
technological developments, using devices such as phase shifters, fuzzboxes,
echoplex delay (for which he named a song, "La Polka Plex"), and
synthesizers, and was one of the few conjunto musicians to weave styles such as
fusion jazz and rock into his music. He had also recorded country, western and
mambo numbers.
Members of his family frequently backed him up, including his sons Esteban Jr., Esteban III, and Ricardo. Esteban III (guitar) and Ricardo (bass) accompanied Esteban on-stage and in studio recording.
Members of his family frequently backed him up, including his sons Esteban Jr., Esteban III, and Ricardo. Esteban III (guitar) and Ricardo (bass) accompanied Esteban on-stage and in studio recording.
In 1988 while performing The Berlin Jazz Festival '88, Hohner invited Steve to the Hohner factory in Trossingen. The Hohner company and Steve collaborated in making an new accordion with Steve's specifications that included his own tuning, octaves, and tuning arrangement changes to the accidentals. It would enable Steve to do the music patterns he is famous for. In 2009, Hohner USA in recognition of Steve's contribution and accomplishments to the music world, launched the Steve Jordan "Rockordeon". The signature series accordion reissued in his honour.
New wave polka bands such as Brave Combo have cited Jordan's influence. In 1987 he was
nominated for a Grammy, but lost out to his old friend Flaco Jiménez. His bid for mainstream presence continued in 1986 when he was asked to do the soundtrack for the Cheech Marin film Born in East L.A.
nominated for a Grammy, but lost out to his old friend Flaco Jiménez. His bid for mainstream presence continued in 1986 when he was asked to do the soundtrack for the Cheech Marin film Born in East L.A.
Esteban was inducted to the South Texas Conjunto Music
Hall Of Fame on May 27, 2001. Also the National Hispanic Music Hall Of Fame in
2003.
In 2002 he appeared in the film Texas Conjunto: Música de la gente, a documentary about Texas conjunto music, and in True Stories, an American musical film directed by and starring musician David Byrne. He did the music and appeared as an accordion street player in the film Born in East L.A. starring Cheech Marin.
Esteban established his own record label "Jordan Records, Inc." on his birthday Feb. 23, 2010. He released one of his nine albums named Carta Espiritual (a spiritual letter), on which he had spent over 15 years recording new music, still yet to be released on his recording label.
Esteban battled cancer for four years and died of
complications liver cancer on August 13, 2010. He was 71.
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