Jiménez was part of a vibrant group of free black and mulato musicians who marked Cuba's musical life in the nineteenth century.
He played instruments in Havana to study As an adolescent, he received his earliest training on the violin from his father, orchestra conductor, Nicasio Jimenez (Sr.), beginning at the age of fourteen.
While residing there, he entered the Leipzig Conservatorium, where he studied violin with Ferdinand David, piano with Ignaz Moscheles, and harmony with Alexander Ritter.
Young Nicasio and Jose Manuel first studied in Hamburg under the guidance of Georg Armburst, professor of piano and organ at the local conservatory in that city.
The family participated in forty-seven concerts over this seven-year period in various German states (Bavaria, Hessen, Sachsen, Anhalt, Saxony, Wurttemberg, Thuringia, and the Rheinland).