Jimmy Yancey Chicago Music by Atlanta visual artist Corey Barksdale. Explore collector-ready originals, fine art prints, commissions, and licensing—work celebrating Black culture, history, and everyday life.
Jimmy Yancey (Piano, i8a8-i%i) James Edward Yancey was born in Chicago and toured the vaudeville circuit as a dancer in his childhood. He learned piano from his brother Alonzo in 1915 and was soon working rent parties and small clubs around Chicago. He made his recording debut in 1939 for Solo Art and continued to record intermittently, often in the company of his wife, singer Estella Yancey. Yancey was especially adept at slow blues and had a unique ability to develop his own left-hand bass lines.