Chicago Piano 1

Jimmy Yancey, Mama Estella Yancey | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 25, 1992)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Atlantic / Wea
• ASIN: B000002ITE
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #362,186 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Mournful Blues

2. Yancey Special

3. How Long Blues

4. Yancey's Bugle Call

5. 35th and Dearborn

6. Shave 'Em Dry

7. Salute to Pinetop

8. Blues for Albert

9. Yancey Special [Second Version]

10. Make Me a Pallet on the Floor

11. Four O'Clock Blues

12. Monkey Woman Blues

13. Santa Fe Blues

14. How Long Blues

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Master of boogie-woogie in its purest form, June 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Chicago Piano 1 (Audio CD)

While Meade Lux Lewis, Gene Ammons and Pine Top Smith have achieved a notoriety for their raunchy boogie-woogie, it is Jimmy Yancey who should be regarded as the real master of the genre. Coupling a fine approach to syncopation with a variety of pace, motifs, and a purity of melody, it is in Yancey's work that Boogie-Woogie is at its most original and memorable. If you want to have a recording of boogie-woogie that is something more subtle and classy than a series of similar sounding numbers bashed out on a honky-tonk piano, then this is it. Yancey rates alongside Scott Joplin and Armstrong's Hot Five/Seven for quality, these recordings only marred by Yancey's occasional lack of technical skill.

No jazz collection can be called such without this recording.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you think it's easy, try it!, January 5, 2001

By 

James R. Mccall (Libertyville, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chicago Piano 1 (Audio CD)

This CD is, more or less, the old Atlantic vinyl "Pure Blues w/Mama", which I listened to, and loved, in the sixties. It has, though, the great "Shave 'em Dry" in addition.

Yancey's playing seems simple, but I've never heard anyone duplicate the feel of it -- it won't let you sit still. None of these songs, even "Yancey's Bugle Call", is played all that fast. He doesn't hurry, but does he swing.

I'm not that crazy about his wife's singing -- it's just not in the same class as his playing -- but enjoy the five cuts where they work together, too.

This was recorded in 1951, when Yancey was fairly old. They are great to listen to, but other albums catch him at an earlier time, and show what the younger man could do. But this one does it for me.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Blues feeling is what matters..., September 24, 2000

By 

Andria Rogava (Heverlee Belgium) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chicago Piano 1 (Audio CD)

I rate this CD 5 stars, because though the latter referee is right about technical flaws in late Mr. Yancey's performance. But for me, dear Sir, what really matters is the BLUES FEELING and in this sense the CD displays enchanting piece of musical revelation. Jimmy tells the story - in "How Long Blues" and "Mournful Blues" - story without words, something deep, blue and sorrowful, still enlightened with self-sustaining humour: "smile through tears"... This is wonderful. Not a polished studio effort, not a brilliant "live" recording, but the aged, ill, tired man playing piano. And he does the magic, conveying the blues feeling, probably his last message to all of us. This CD is a remarkable document, an image of the artists' soul. Second half, where Mamma Yancey sings is also charming: sincere and soulful, and Jimmy's playing deserves careful listening even in these tunes, for he manages to give simple yet touching nuances here and there... The sleevenotes are well-written completing the overall pleasant image of this CD.