Jimmy Yancey

Jimmy Yancey kept his day job his entire life. During the early half of the century, he was a groundskeeper at Chicago's Comiskey Park by day, and master of the boogie-woogie piano by night. His rollicking style was a huge influence on such up-and-coming pianists as Meade "Lux" Lewis and Albert Ammons, who would both go on to much greater success. Yancey is credited with refining the technique wherein all the percussive measures are played with the left hand.