James "Stump" Johnson (January 17, 1902 – December 5, 1969) was an American blues pianist and singer from St. Louis.

Biography

James "Stump" Johnson was the brother of Jesse Johnson, "a prominent black business man," who around 1909 had moved the family from Clarksville, Tennessee, to St. Louis, where he ran a music store and was a promoter. James, a self-taught piano player, made a career playing the city's brothels. He had an instant hit with the "whorehouse tune" "The Duck's Yas-Yas-Yas", "a popular St. Louis party song". The song's title is from the lyric "Shake your shoulders, shake 'em fast, if you can't shake your shoulders, shake your yas-yas-yas." He made a number of other recordings (some mildly pornographic) under various pseudonyms. These included Shorty George and Snitcher Roberts. One of the more obscene songs was a version of "Steady Grinding", which he recorded with Dorothea Trowbridge on August 2, 1933; the song has the "defiant, sexually aggressive lyrics" early blueswomen were noted for, grinding being slang for sexual intercourse. Johnson died on December 5, 1969, from the effects of esophageal cancer at the Veteran's Hospital in St. Louis. He was 67 years old.

Discography

James "Stump" Johnson (1929–1964)

Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order, Document DOCD-5250, CD

The Duck's Yas-Yas-Yas

Compilation/reissue, Agram Blues AB-2007, LP

Side A

Side B