Willie "The Lion" Smith
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Willie “the lion” Smith
With his derby and cigar, along with his command of counterpoint and swing, Willie “The Lion” Smith was one of the jazz world’s outsized characters. Bravery during World War I earned him his nickname; friendship and mutual admiration led to Duke Ellington’s “Portrait Of The Lion” and Smith’s own “Portrait Of Duke.”
William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholoff was born in Goshen, N.Y., on Nov. 25, 1897. Growing up in Newark, he began playing at age 6, drawn to the piano by his mother’s playing in church. His father’s Jewish ancestry later led to work as a cantor, he claimed, during the ’40s. After returning from the war, he established himself as one of Harlem’s most illustrious stride piano players. During the ’20s he toured with singer Mamie Smith and played on her “Crazy Blues,” but was generally unknown to the public until his Decca recordings of the mid ’30s. But these sessions with a band are not as revealing of his mature style as the later Commodore sessions with their impressionistic rendering of a New York City park, “Echoes Of Spring” and classical techniques heard in “Passionette.”
His fame spread when Artie Shaw and Tommy Dorsey performed arrangements of his compositions. Smith toured Europe in 1949 and again in the mid ’60s; appeared in the film Jazz Dance in 1954 and wrote his memoirs, Music On My Mind in ‘65. Smith died on April 18, 1973, in New York City.
Dave Helland
With his derby and cigar, along with his command of counterpoint and swing, Willie “The Lion” Smith was one of the jazz world’s outsized characters. Bravery during World War I earned him his nickname; friendship and mutual admiration led to Duke Ellington’s “Portrait Of The Lion” and Smith’s own “Portrait Of Duke.”
William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholoff was born in Goshen, N.Y., on Nov. 25, 1897. Growing up in Newark, he began playing at age 6, drawn to the piano by his mother’s playing in church. His father’s Jewish ancestry later led to work as a cantor, he claimed, during the ’40s. After returning from the war, he established himself as one of Harlem’s most illustrious stride piano players. During the ’20s he toured with singer Mamie Smith and played on her “Crazy Blues,” but was generally unknown to the public until his Decca recordings of the mid ’30s. But these sessions with a band are not as revealing of his mature style as the later Commodore sessions with their impressionistic rendering of a New York City park, “Echoes Of Spring” and classical techniques heard in “Passionette.”
His fame spread when Artie Shaw and Tommy Dorsey performed arrangements of his compositions. Smith toured Europe in 1949 and again in the mid ’60s; appeared in the film Jazz Dance in 1954 and wrote his memoirs, Music On My Mind in ‘65. Smith died on April 18, 1973, in New York City.
Dave Helland
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DavidSmith98
Duke's hero
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IamFlood
I think it's safe to say that without this man we wouldn't celebrate Christmas today.
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MrRenaud
I've started smoking because of Willie "The Lion" Smith!
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explodingharry
Fantastic
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DougMig
Legend.
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PappaWheelie
Nothin' gonna break my stride...
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