Throughout his storybook history, musician Esteban “Steve” Jordan has generally not made the best financial decisions. Most of the record companies that the Tejano master signed with and recorded for don’t even exist anymore. Jordan saw few royalties despite recording some 52 LPs in a career spanning six-decades.

Best known as an accordion master, Jordan also had a tendency to shy away from artistic collaborations. Consequently, fellow Tejano accordionists, like Flaco Jiménez, enjoyed greater popularity.

Jordan can play more than 30 musical instruments and has recorded as a guitarist and a drummer. But throughout his career, no one has attacked, manipulated, tamed, and pushed the accordion like Jordan. His antics, like attaching a synthesizer to his accordion, earned him the nickname “the Jimmy Hendrix” of the accordion. The fact that he once played Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” on accordion in the 1987 movie “Born in East L.A.” probably added to his legend. That and the fact that the German accordion maker Hohner designed a special accordion just for hum dubbed the “Steve Jordan Tex-Mex Rockordean.”

And with the musical genius’ new CD “Carta Espiritual” being released this month, Jordan’s musical legacy now moves into a new era. Released on the “Jordan” label, “Carta Espiritual” is literally a one-man CD. This is totally Esteban Jordan, from the original material, to performing all the instruments, to singing, to the musical mixes. The distribution and productions aspects of the CD were handled by Jordan’s sons Esteban III and Ricardo. And the Jordans say another 8 CDs have been recorded and will be released in due time.

Jordan, who has survived three years so far with liver cancer and cirrhosis, is scheduled to be present at a CD release party on February 26 at Salúte’s International Bar in San Antonio [2801 N. St. Marys 210/732-5307] followed by a 71st Birthday Party.