From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Wed Feb 20, 2002  1:14 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Jimmy Yancey
 
JIMMY YANCEY

Born James Edward Yancey, 20 February, 1898, Chicago, Illinois
Died 17 September 1951, Chicago, Illinois

Piano player (boogie woogie, blues)

While still a small child Yancey appeared in vaudeville as a tap dancer and
singer. After touring the USA and Europe he abandoned this career and, just
turned 20, settled in Chicago where he taught himself to play piano. He
began to appear at rent parties and informal club sessions, gradually
building a reputation. Nevertheless, in 1925, he decided that music was an
uncertain way to earn a living and took a job as groundsman with the city's
White Sox baseball team. He continued to play piano and was one of the prime
movers in establishing the brief popularity of boogie-woogie. His recording
career did not start until 1939, during the boogie woogie fad, when he was
rediscovered. He made many records (for Solo Art, Victor, Vocalion,
Session, Paramount and Atlantic) and played clubs and concerts, often
accompanying his wife, singer Estella "Mama" Yancey (1896-1986), but
retained his job as groundsman until shortly before he died of diabetes.
Although Yancey's playing style was elementary, he played with verve and
dash, and if he fell behind such contemporaries as Albert Ammons and Pete
Johnson in technique, he made up most of the deficiencies through sheer
enthusiasm. He was a strong influence on Meade Lux Lewis, who dedicated
"Yancey Special" to him.

Jimmy Yancey, Complete Recorded Works, vol. 1-3 have been issued on
3 CD's on the Document label (which, unfortunately, does not have too
good a reputation when it comes to sound qualirty.)

(Yesterday I wrote that "The Tracks of My Tears" was the biggest hit of
Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. I meant "The Tears of a Clown".)