Biography

Jimmy Yancey is the progenitor of boogie-woogie piano, a style that eventually became a recognizable element of uptempo blues and early rock and roll. The boogie-woogie craze came and went in the latter half of the Thirties, but Yancey had actually been playing in that style as far back as the 1910s and 1920s. A self-taught pianist, singer and dancer, he performed in a style characterized by rolling, rhythmic lines from his left hand played off against percussive accents from the right hand. A master of the form whose protégés included Clarence “Pinetop” Smith and Charles “Cow Cow” Davenport, Yancey ...