Yancey, Jimmy

byname of James Edward Yancey

(born Feb. 20, 1898, Chicago—died Sept. 17, 1951, Chicago) American blues pianist who established the boogie-woogie style with slow, steady, simple left-hand bass patterns. These became more rapid in the work of his students Albert Ammons and Meade “Lux” Lewis, who popularized the “Yancey Special.”

Yancey was largely a self-taught pianist, with some instruction from his brother Alonzo. He had a childhood career as a singer and dancer, touring American vaudeville circuits and European music halls, giving a command performance for King George V of England in 1913. Returning to Chicago, Yancey performed at small taverns and informal gatherings. He played baseball in the Negro leagues until 1919, the year he married Estella Harris (Mama Yancey), who sang with him at house parties throughout the 1920s, '30s, and '40s. They had three recording sessions together and performed on network radio in 1939 and at Carnegie Hall in New York City in 1948. From 1925 until his death, Yancey worked as a groundskeeper at the Chicago White Sox baseball stadium.

Yancey's influence on other musicians was profound, but his music was known to only a small coterie during his lifetime. Mama Yancey continued to perform and record, working with pianists Little Brother Montgomery and Erwin Helfer. She sang at Carnegie Hall again in 1981.