Jimmy Yancey
One of the seminal boogie-woogie pianists, Yancey was active in and around Chicago playing house parties and clubs from 1915, yet he remained unrecorded until May 1939, when he recorded "The Fives" and "Jimmy's Stuff" for a small label. Soon after, he became the first boogie-woogie pianist to record an album of solos, for Victor. By then, Yancey's work around Chicago had already influenced such younger and better-known pianists as Meade "Lux" Lewis, Pinetop Smith, and Albert Ammons.
Yancey played vaudeville as a tap dancer and singer from the age of six. He settled in Chicago in 1915, where he began composing songs and playing music at informal gatherings. In 1925, he became groundskeeper at Comiskey Park, home of the Chicago White Sox baseball team. Yancey was a musician's musician, remaining mostly unknown and unheard outside of Chicago until 1936, when Lewis recorded one of his tunes, "Yancey Special." Three years later, producer Dan Qualey became the first to record Yancey for his new Solo Art label. After the Victor recordings, Yancey went on to record for OKeh and Bluebird. In later years, Yancey performed with his wife, blues singer Estelle "Mama" Yancey; they appeared together at Carnegie Hall in 1948.
Yancey was not as technically flashy as some of his disciples, but he was an expressive, earthy player with a flexible left hand that introduced an air of unpredictability into his bass lines. His playing had a notable peculiarity: Although he wrote and performed compositions in a variety of keys, he ended every tune in E flat. He was also an undistinguished blues singer, accompanying himself on piano. Although Yancey attained a measure of fame for his music late in life, he never quit his day job, remaining with the White Sox until just before his death.
© Chris Kelsey /TiVo
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Chicago Piano Volume 1
Soul - Released by Rhino Atlantic on 1 Jan 1972
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Jimmy Yancey Vol. 1 1939 - 1940
Blues - Released by Document Records on 22 Mar 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Jimmy Yancey Vol. 2 1940 - 1943
Blues - Released by Document Records on 22 Mar 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Very Best Of
Blues - Released by Master Classics Records on 1 Sep 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Blues of Jimmy Yancey
Blues - Released by Ling Music Group on 11 Oct 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Yancey's Stuff - Boogie-Woogie Piano
Jazz - Released by Pink Dot Records on 31 Jul 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Barrelhouse Boogie
Meade Lux Lewis, Jimmy Yancey, Pete Johnson
Jazz - Released by CoolNote on 1 Jan 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Jimmie Yancey Collection (Remastered)
Blues - Released by American Style on 29 Jun 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Easy Street Stomp
Jazz - Released by Easy Street Stomp Muzik Tm on 18 Jun 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Yancey's Blues - [The Dave Cash Collection]
Blues - Released by The Dave Cash Collection - OMP on 9 May 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Boogie Woogie Stompin' Blues
Blues - Released by Ling Music Group on 2 Apr 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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A Lost Recording Date (Remastered)
Jazz - Released by AVID Entertainment on 1 Oct 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Jazz Immortals
Folk - Released by Blue Pie Records USA on 12 Jan 1954
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Best Of Jimmy Yancey
Blues - Released by Saar srl on 5 Apr 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Une soirée avec les Yancey (Mono version)
Jimmy Yancey, Mama Yancey, Alonzo Yancey
Jazz - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1957
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Hey! Piano Man: Selected Boogie Woogie Sides Remastered - CD A
Blues - Released by JSP Records on 28 Aug 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Keep a Knockin'
Gospel - Released by Golden Bridge Records on 7 Jan 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo