Willie The Lion Smith

Willie Smith in his apartment in Manhattan, New York, circa Jan. 1947, Photo: William P. Gottlieb

Willie "The Lion" Smith (* 23. November 1893 in Goshen , Orange County , New York , as William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholoff ; † 18th April 1973 in New York City ) was an American jazz - pianist and - composer .

Life

Bertholoff was named by his stepfather Smith at the age of three and began as a professional musician in Newark in 1914 , then in Atlantic City and New York City. He initially made a career as a soloist, which was interrupted by his military service in the artillery and in the military orchestra. In 1920 he founded his first band in Harlem, around 1930 he had an engagement in the nightclub Pod's and Jerry’s in Harlem . In the 1930s he mostly appeared with his various bands, in the 1940s he continued his freelance work, but also made his first tours through North America and Europe in 1949 and 1950. In 1958 and 1965 he took part in the Newport Jazz Festival ; In 1968 he played at the Berkley Jazz Festival . In 1964 he published his (together with George Hoefer) autobiography "Music On My Mind: The Memoirs of An American Pianist", to which Duke Ellington contributed a detailed foreword. In 1971 he toured North America and Europe for the last time.

He was a central exponent of the Harlem Stride Piano (with a blend of ragtime , impressionism and counterpoint as a special style) and was Fats Waller's mentor alongside James P. Johnson . He recorded under his own name, but also with Mezz Mezzrow (1934/36), Sidney Bechet (1939/41) and Big Joe Turner (1940).

He himself circulated three different versions of his nickname: On the one hand, he said that James P. Johnson called him that because of his fiery and enterprising character. Another time he said that his original career aspiration to become a rabbi as the son of a Jewish father earned him the nickname “Lion of Judea”. The third variant, most often used by him, says that he was so brave during his service in France during World War I that he was called "The Lion" by the military as Sergeant William H. Smith.

literature

Willie The Lion Smith: Music on my mind. Memoirs of an American Pianist . Da Capo Press, New York 1978, ISBN 0-306-70684-9 (reprint of the New York 1964 edition).
Carlo Bohländer , Karl Heinz Holler, Christian Pfarr: Reclam's Jazz Guide . 3rd, revised and expanded edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-15-010355-X .

Web links

Willie The Lion Smith on BlueBlackJazz
Solo discography

Individual evidence

↑ Dr. Jazz on the date of birth , among other things according to his military service records. In his autobiography, Smith stated November 25, 1897, and it can be found in many encyclopedias such as Bohländer et al. a. Reclam's Jazz Guide , 1989.

personal data
SURNAME	Smith, Willie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Smith, The Lion (nickname); Bertholoff, William Henry Joseph Bonaparte
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American jazz pianist and composer
DATE OF BIRTH	November 23, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH	Goshen , Orange County , New York ,
DATE OF DEATH	April 18, 1973
Place of death	New York City

[1] Dr. Jazz on the date of birth , among other things according to his military service records. In his autobiography, Smith stated November 25, 1897, and it can be found in many encyclopedias such as Bohländer et al. a. Reclam's Jazz Guide , 1989.