Jimmy Yancey

One of the pioneers of boogie-woogie piano, Jimmy Yancey was generally more subtle than the more famous Albert Ammons, Pete Johnson, and Meade Lux Lewis, falling as much into the blues genre as into jazz. Yancey, who could romp as well as anyone, made many of his most memorable recordings at slower tempos. He worked in vaudeville as a singer and tap dancer starting at age six, and in 1915 settled in Chicago as a pianist. But Yancey spent 26 years earning his living as a groundskeeper at Comiskey Park for the Chicago White Sox. He played part-time in local clubs and began recording in 1939, on a few occasions backing his wife, singer Mama Yancey. Jimmy Yancey never achieved the fame of his contemporaries, but he remained a major influence on all practitioners in the genre.