Boogie Woogie Music

This is funky, primitive, swinging, badass barrelhouse/blues piano at its absolute finest. The two versions of The Dirty Dozens are the Gangster Rap of their day - but what artful argot! (not to say that no Gangster rap is artful...). It's a shame that Sonny Boy Williamson only plays on one track - but it's a great one.This disc is beautifully remastered, as all Documents are. Revelatory!

The totally amazing James Edward "Jimmy" Yancey was an amateur pianist who recorded the most outrageously beautiful blues ever played on a piano by anyone. His rock steady grooves and rolling tempos never quit, and he's also able to slow things down to poignant laments of unsurpassed feeling and beauty. This music really needs to be heard, and Yancey's influence on many modern jazz players - whether it's direct or indirect - ought to be recognized. Listen to Yancey and think of Monk; you're definitely in for a surprise.

Jimmy Yancey never received the kind of popular recognition that players like Pete Johnson and Meade Lux Lewis were to achieve, but those later masters were never hesitant to acknowledge their debt to the great Yancey. Unfortunately, the quietly powerful intensity of Yancey's best playing was not always fully evident in his later work, and some of the selections on this collection do not represent Yancey at his very best. If you can only afford one Yancey album, go with Volume 1. But any Yancey is better than none at all, and this is album is certainly worthy of inclusion in the collection of anyone who loves the rollicking sound of boogie-woogie piano.

Jimmy Yancey never fails to amaze and satisfy! Still, it has to be acknowledged that his later work was not always as fully realized as his classic masterpieces from 1939 and 1940. If you can afford to add this fine CD to your collection, by all means do so. If not, Volume 1 is still the essential one to own.