José Alfredo Jiménez

José Alfredo Jiménez stood unchallenged as ranchera’s supreme figure, that emotionally charged and melodramatic vocal tradition which first took shape in Mexico’s urban centers throughout the 1950s and ’60s. Orphaned at ten, he abandoned formal schooling and launched a musical ensemble alongside childhood companion Jorge Gabilondo Patiño. By the closing years of the 1940s he had assembled the trio Los Rebeldes together with siblings Enrique and Valentin Ferrusca. Their initial opportunity arrived when Mexican station XEW engaged them as regular broadcasters. While maintaining the group’s schedule, Jiménez also lent his voice to celebrated performers including Jorge Negrete, Pedro Infante, Pedro Vargas, and Miguel Aceves Mejia. Andres Huesca y Sus Costenos committed his 1950 composition “Yo” to disc; the track’s popularity introduced him to Mariano Rivera Conde, who then secured Los Rebeldes a residency at his venue. The engagement proved decisive, quickly elevating the trio to widespread favor among youthful listeners. Following the ensemble’s dissolution in 1953, Jiménez persisted in crafting material that celebrated tequila-fueled revelry and the turmoil of fractured romances, among them the enduring pieces “Ella,” “Cuatro Caminos,” “La Que Se Fue,” and “Guitarras de Media Noche.” Cirrhosis of the liver was diagnosed in 1968, and he passed away inside a Mexican hospital in November 1973. Vicente Fernández has since released multiple albums devoted to Jiménez’s catalog. Marking the forty-fifth anniversary of the composer’s death, Camilo Lara of the Mexican Institute of Sound assembled the 2018 various-artists collection Un Mundo Raro: Las Canciones de José Alfredo Jiménez, presenting contemporary reinterpretations of his work by Enrique Bunbury, Carla Morrison, Lila Downs, Julieta Venegas, and Los Lobos’ David Hidalgo.