Jimmy Yancey
Jimmy Yancey | |
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File:Estella and Jimmy Yancey.jpg
Jimmy Yancey accompanying his wife Estella
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Background information | |
Birth name | James Edwards Yancey |
Born | Chicago, Illinois, United States |
February 20, 1894
Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. Chicago, Illinois, United States |
Genres | Boogie-woogie |
Instruments | Piano |
Years active | 1939–1950 |
Labels | Atlantic |
Associated acts | Jimmy and Mama Yancey |
James Edwards "Jimmy" Yancey (February 20, 1894 – September 17, 1951)[1][2][3] was an African American boogie-woogie pianist, composer, and lyricist. One reviewer noted him as "one of the pioneers of this raucous, rapid-fire, eight-to-the-bar piano style".[2]
Biography
Yancey was born in Chicago in (depending on the source) 1894[2] or 1898.[3] His older brother, Alonzo Yancey (1894–1944) was also a pianist, while their father was a vaudeville guitarist and singer. By age ten, Yancey had toured across the United States as a tap dancer and singer, and by twenty he had toured throughout Europe. He began teaching himself piano at 15, and by 1915 had become a noted pianist and was already influencing younger musicians, including Meade Lux Lewis and Albert Ammons.[1][2]
While he played in a boogie-woogie style, with a strong-repeated figure in the left hand and melodic decoration in the right, his playing was delicate and subtle, rather than hard driving. He popularized the left-hand figure that became known as the "Yancey bass", later used in Pee Wee Crayton's "Blues After Hours", Guitar Slim's "The Things That I Used to Do", and many other songs.[4] Yancey favored keys—such as E flat and A flat—that were atypical for barrelhouse blues.[1] Distinctively, he ended many pieces in the key of E-flat, even if he had played in a different key right up to the ending.
Although influential from a young age, Yancey did not record at all through his early career, performing only at house parties and clubs. His first recordings in 1939 created a considerable stir in blues and jazz circles.[5]
While most of his recordings were solo, later in his career he and his wife Estelle Yancey recorded together (she as a vocalist) under the name 'Jimmy and Mama Yancey'.[4] They appeared in concert at Carnegie Hall in 1948,[1] and recorded their first album in 1951—released by Atlantic Records the following year.[1]
During World War I, Yancey played baseball for the Chicago All-Americans, a Negro league baseball team. Throughout his life, he held on to his job as a groundskeeper for the Chicago White Sox.[4]
Yancey died of a stroke secondary to diabetes in Chicago on September 17, 1951.[3] He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.[3]
Discography
Singles
Year | Title | Label and Number |
---|---|---|
1939 | Beezum Blues | Solo Art - unissued |
1939 | Big Bear Train | Solo Art - unissued |
1939 | Janie's Joys | Solo Art - unissued |
1939 | Jimmy’s Stuff | Solo Art 12008 |
1939 | How Long Blues | Solo Art - unissued |
1939 | How Long Blues No. 2 | Solo Art - unissued |
1939 | Lean Bacon | Solo Art - unissued |
1939 | LaSalle Street Breakdown | Solo Art - unissued |
1939 | Lucille's Lament | Solo Art - unissued |
1939 | P.L.K. Special | Solo Art - unissued |
1939 | Rolling The Stone | Solo Art - unissued |
1939 | South Side Stuff | Solo Art - unissued |
1939 | Steady Rock Blues | Solo Art - unissued |
1939 | Two O'Clock Blues | Solo Art - unissued |
1939 | The Fives | Solo Art 12008 |
1939 | Yancy Getaway | Solo Art - unissued |
1939 | Yancy Limited | Solo Art - unissued |
1939 | Five O'Clock Blues | Victor 26590-A |
1939 | Slow and Easy Blues | Victor 26591-B |
1939 | State Street Special | Victor 26589-A |
1939 | Tell 'Em About Me | Victor 26590-B |
1939 | The Mellow Blues | Victor 26591-A |
1939 | Yancy Stomp | Victor 26589-B |
1940 | Bear Trap Blues | Vocalion 05490 |
1940 | Crying In My Sleep | Bluebird B-8630 |
1940 | Death Letter Blues | Bluebird B-8630 |
1940 | I Love To Hear My Baby Call My Name | Gannet 5138 |
1940 | Old Quaker Blues | Vocalion 05490 |
1940 | 35th and Dearborn | Victor 27238-B |
1940 | Yancey's Bugle Call | Victor 27238-A |
1943 | Boodlin' | Session 10-001 |
1943 | Jimmy's Rocks | Session 10-001 |
1943 | Yancey's Mixture | Session - unissued |
Selected albums
- 1974 - The Immortal Jimmy Yancey 1898-1951, Oldie Blues, OL 2802
- 1980 - The Immortal Jimmy Yancey 1898-1951 Vol. 2, Oldie Blues, OL 2813
References
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External links
- Jimmy Yancey at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
- Redhotjazz.com biography
- Jimmy Yancey discography at Discogs
- Jimmy Yancey discography at Rate Your Music
- MIDI sequences of 5 Yancey compositions
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- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 [If older brother, Alonzo Yancey was born in 1894, it would appear that Jim Yancey's correct year of birth would be 1898] Thedeadrockstarsclub.com - accessed August 2011
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- ↑ Olderen, Martin van, The Immortal Jimmy Yancey 1898-1951, liner notes, Oldie Blues, OL 2802, 1974
- Pages with reference errors
- Pages with broken file links
- Articles with hCards
- 1894 births
- 1951 deaths
- African-American musicians
- American male composers
- American pianists
- American blues pianists
- Boogie-woogie pianists
- Musicians from Chicago, Illinois
- Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees
- Atlantic Records artists
- Vocalion Records artists
- Deaths from diabetes
- Victor Records artists
- Pioneers of music genres
- 20th-century composers
- 20th-century American musicians
- 20th-century pianists