Editing Jimmy Yancey

{{Short description|American pianist, composer, and lyricist (1895-1951)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2022}}
{{Infobox musical artist <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Musicians -->
| name                = Jimmy Yancey
| image               = 
| caption             = 
| image_size          = 
| background          = non_vocal_instrumentalist
| birth_name          = James Edward Yancey
| alias               = 
| birth_date          = February 20, c. 1895<ref name="yob1895">A military draft card from 1919 without Yancey's signature places his year of birth at 1900, but a passport application made in London on 28 March 1913 for a lost passport has the year of birth 1895 and bears Yancey's signature. His profession on this document is "music hall artist" and the purpose of the passport is "travelling to Russia to fulfill engagements." See U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925 via ancestry.com.</ref> 
| birth_place         = [[Chicago|Chicago, Illinois]], U.S.
| death_date          = {{death date|1951|09|17|}} 
| death_place         = Chicago, Illinois
| instrument          = Piano
| genre               = [[Boogie-woogie]]
| occupation          = 
| years_active        = 1939–1951
| label               = [[Atlantic Records|Atlantic]]
}}

'''James Edward Yancey''' (February 20, c. 1895<ref name="yob1895"/> – September 17, 1951)<ref name="AMG">{{cite web |first=Chris|last=Kelsey |url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p584/biography|pure_url=yes}} |title=Biography  |publisher=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=August 11, 2011}}</ref><ref name="Music"/><ref name="Dead"/> was an American [[boogie-woogie]] pianist, composer, and lyricist. One reviewer described him as "one of the pioneers of this raucous, rapid-fire, eight-to-the-bar piano style".<ref name="Music">{{cite book
| first= Paul
| last= Du Noyer
| year= 2003
| title= The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music
| edition= 
| publisher= Flame Tree Publishing 
| location= Fulham, London
| isbn= 1-904041-96-5
| page= 165}}</ref>

==Biography==
Jimmy Yancey was born in [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]], most likely in 1895.<ref name="yob1895"/> However, at different times he stated 1900 and 1903,<ref name="bare">{{cite book| first1= Bob| last1= Eagle| first2= Eric S.| last2= LeBlanc| year= 2013| title= Blues – A Regional Experience| publisher= Praeger Publishers| location= Santa Barbara| pages=63 | isbn= 978-0313344237}}</ref> and other sources give 1894<ref name="Music"/> or 1898.<ref name="Dead">{{Cite web|url=http://thedeadrockstarsclub.com/1950.html|title=The Dead Rock Stars Club - The 50s and earlier|website=Thedeadrockstarsclub.com}}</ref> Researchers Bob Eagle and Eric LeBlanc suggest 1901.<ref name="bare"/>

His brother, Alonzo Yancey (1897–1944),<ref name="bare"/> was also a pianist, and their father was a vaudeville guitarist and singer. By age ten, Yancey had toured across the United States as a tap dancer and singer,<ref name="Devil">{{cite book|title=The Devil's Music|author=Giles Oakley|publisher=[[Da Capo Press]]|page=[https://archive.org/details/devilsmusichisto00oakl_0/page/159 159]|isbn=978-0-306-80743-5|date=1997|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/devilsmusichisto00oakl_0/page/159}}</ref> and by twenty he had toured throughout Europe. He began teaching himself to play the piano at the age of 15, and by 1915 had gained a sufficient profile to influence younger musicians, including [[Meade Lux Lewis]] and [[Albert Ammons]].<ref name="AMG"/><ref name="Music"/>

Yancey played in a boogie-woogie style, with a strong-repeated figure in the left hand and melodic decoration in the right, but his playing was delicate and subtle rather than hard driving.<ref name="Devil"/> 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.<ref name="russell">{{cite book
| first= Tony
| last= Russell
| year= 1997
| title= The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray
| edition= 
| publisher=Carlton Books
| location= Dubai
| pages= 193–194
| isbn= 1-85868-255-X}}</ref> Yancey favored keys—such as E-flat and A-flat—that were atypical for barrelhouse blues.<ref name="AMG"/> Distinctively, he ended many pieces in the key of E-flat, even if he had played in a different key until the ending.

Although influential from an early age, Yancey did not record at all in his early career, performing only at house parties and clubs. His first recordings, in 1939, created a considerable stir in blues and jazz circles.<ref>Olderen, Martin van (1974). Liner notes for ''The Immortal Jimmy Yancey 1898–1951''. [[Oldie Blues]], OL 2802.</ref> He made most of his recordings solo, but later in his career he recorded with his wife, [[Estelle Yancey]], singing, as Jimmy and Mama Yancey.<ref name="russell"/> They appeared in concert at [[Carnegie Hall]] in 1948,<ref name="AMG"/> and recorded their first album in 1951, released by [[Atlantic Records]] the following year.<ref name="AMG"/> During World War I, Yancey played baseball for the Chicago All-Americans, a [[Negro league baseball]] team. From 1925 to 1950,<ref name="bare"/> he worked as a [[groundskeeper]] for the [[Chicago White Sox]].<ref name="russell"/>

==Death==
[[File:Grave of James Edwards Yancey (c. 1895–1951) at Lincoln Cemetery, Blue Island, IL.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Yancey's grave at Lincoln Cemetery]]
Jimmy Yancey died of a diabetes-induced stroke in his native Chicago on September 17, 1951, and was buried at [[Lincoln Cemetery (Cook County)|Lincoln Cemetery]] in Blue Island, Illinois.<ref name="Dead"/> He was inducted into the [[Rock and Roll Hall of Fame]] in 1986.<ref name="Dead"/>

==Discography==
===Singles===
{|class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! 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, How Long Blues|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|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

==Legacy and influence==
In 1973, the Dutch composer [[Louis Andriessen]] premiered ''On Jimmy Yancey'', a two-movement work scored for nine wind instruments, piano and double bass. Andriessen observed that Yancey was not merely one of the pioneers of the boogie-woogie piano style. "The leaping left hand of Ragtime changed into a monotonous repeating train-like figure, which in fact was more melodious than the Ragtime bass. In the first movement, three Yancey themes are quoted; the second is a kind of In Memoriam. Both movements end with a typical boogie-woogie lick, with which Yancey unexpectedly ends all his recordings. He probably did this at a sign from the producer, when the three minutes which a 78 side could hold were up, because boogie-woogie pianists habitually played for hours on end in the bars to entertain the white bourgeoisie."<ref>Andriessen, L., [http://www.boosey.com/cr/music/Louis-Andriessen-On-Jimmy-Yancey/2893 ''On Jimmy Yancey''] (London: [[Boosey & Hawkes]], 1973).</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Rockhall}}
* [https://syncopatedtimes.com/jimmy-yancey-1901-1951/ Jimmy Yancey (1901-1951)] at Red Hot Jazz Archive
* [http://www.discogs.com/artist/Jimmy+Yancey Jimmy Yancey discography at Discogs]
* [http://rateyourmusic.com/artist/jimmy_yancey Jimmy Yancey discography at Rate Your Music]
* [https://www.angelfire.com/ks/landzastanza/pianomusic.html#14 MIDI sequences of 5 Yancey compositions]

{{1986 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yancey, Jimmy}}
[[Category:1890s births]]
[[Category:1951 deaths]]
[[Category:African-American pianists]]
[[Category:American male composers]]
[[Category:American blues pianists]]
[[Category:American male pianists]]
[[Category:Boogie-woogie pianists]]
[[Category:Musicians from Chicago]]
[[Category:Atlantic Records artists]]
[[Category:Vocalion Records artists]]
[[Category:Deaths from diabetes in the United States]]
[[Category:Victor Records artists]]
[[Category:20th-century American composers]]
[[Category:20th-century American pianists]]
[[Category:20th-century American male musicians]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American musicians]]