Remembering Willie The Lion Smith (1893-1973)

William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholf Smith (November 23, 1893, Goshen, New York, US – April 18, 1973, New York, US), was a famous pianist known professionally as William The Lion Smith. In 1907, the family moved to New Jersey in 1912, and there he began his first studies. When Willie was six years old, he discovered an organ in the lower chamber that his mother used to play. It was dilapidated and almost half of the keys were missing. After his mother saw that he was interested, she taught him the melodies she knew. The boy participated in an amateur dance competition at the Arcadia Theater and won first place, including a ten-dollar prize. After that, he focused more on playing music in clubs.

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An eventful life in the local clubs led him to learn to play the piano and with an excellent musical ear, he played the same melodies he heard in the clubs, such as: “Maple Leaf Rag” by Scott Joplin, Cannonball Rag by Joe Northrup, “Black and White Rag” by George Botsford and “Don’t Hit that Lady Dressed in Green.” In the first decade of the 20th century, he toured the clubs of Atlantic City and New York, before he entered the army and was transferred to France during the First World War. After his bachelor’s degree, he returned to work in clubs in Harlem, where James P. Johnson and Fats Waller were developing a new, more sophisticated piano style that was later called “stride.”

Willie easily adapted to this new way of playing the piano and managed to match the skill of its founders; In the 1940s, his music was highly appreciated by the public, and wherever he performed, he generally found success. From then on, he had the opportunity to make several long-lasting tours throughout North America and Europe, an activity that lasted until the early 1970s.

Throughout his life, he played with some of the greatest musicians and singers of the genre, such as: Mamie Smith (1920); Clarence Williams (1933-1935); with clarinetist and saxophonist Mezz Mezzrow (1934-1936); with Sidney Bechet. (1939-1941) or with the trumpeter, Max Kaminsky, in 1944). He was also a teacher to legendary musicians, such as Artie Shaw.

In his later years, he received frequent honors for his life’s work, including having “Willie The Lion Smith” Day celebrated in his honor in Newark, New Jersey. Smith died at the age of 79 on April 18, 1973 in New York.

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Willie The Lion Smith – Echoes Of Spring 1957

“The Lion was one of the founding fathers of the basic New York school of jazz which flourished in Harlem in the early 1920’s. With James P. Johnson he developed the “stride” style which swung the piano firmly from a ragtime base to into the mainstream of jazz development. In those days, when rent parties were being held regularly the Lion and James P. were the two prime attractions at these parties. They toured the Harlem Heights in kingly fashion with an entourage of followers and admirers that included such up and coming young pianists as Duke Ellington and Fats Waller.”

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