Willie The Lion Smith

Willie The Lion Smith

Source: All About Jazz

Born William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholoff Smith on 23 November 1893 in Goshen, New York, stride and jazz pianist, Willie Smith (aka the Lion), joins other stride pianists like James P. Johnson, Luckey Roberts and Fats Waller (a couple years later) in kicking off the Roaring Twenties. The stride approach to piano performance (alternating left-hand bouncing chords) was created by Johnson about that time. Ragtime was far from finished, but stride rhythm assisted its demise as it began to mix with jazz in a way that ragtime couldn't. It was the Roaring Twenties bridge in piano from ragtime to jazz. Smith had been raised poor, worked at a slaughterhouse, brawled and stole, began his career at piano as a kid in the back room of a saloon in Manhattan, then learned Hebrew. His father being Jewish, Smith's Bar Mitzvah was held at the usual age of age of thirteen. When he won a piano in a newspaper contest run by a newspaper he took to it seriously before serving as a drum major in the U.S. Army during World War I. Active two years, he picked up "The Lion" for a sobriquet due to bravery as a heavy artilleryman.

After the War Smith worked in Harlem clubs and at rent parties. He is thought to have first recorded in NYC in 1920 with blues singer, Mamie Smith, on her own debut issues as well, those for Okeh on February 14: 'That Thing Called Love' and 'You Can't Keep a Good Man Down'. Though there is general agreement that such is so, multiple discographies also register a measure of reservation. Lord's discography, for instance, notes that rather than Smith with the Rega Orchestra it may have been Frank Banta on piano with the Hager Orchestra. Be as may, Smith did next record with Mamie Smith's Jazz Hounds on August 10, 1920 for Okeh: 'Crazy Blues' and 'It's All Here for You'. He was paid at a flat rate of 25 dollars for that session. A couple more titles followed the next month with Mamie: 'Fare Thee Honey Blues' and 'The Road Is Rocky'. 'Crazy Blues' was the first Harlem blues to rise to the Top Ten on popularity charts at #3 in December 1920 [MusicVF].

'Crazy Blues'   Willie Smith backing Mamie Smith

Recorded 10 August 1922 in NYC   Okeh 4169-A

Album: 'The Sound of Harlem'   Jazz Odyssey Volume III   Columbia – C3L-33   1964

Composition: Perry Bradford

Smith wended through the Roaring Twenties as a stride pianist in Harlem, as did Johnson, Roberts and Waller. They often performed in cutting contests including another piano player who was to become one of the biggest names in jazz, Duke Ellington. Smith apparently made twenty piano rolls sometime during the twenties [Yanow], but I've not been able to identify them. He attended several sessions in the latter twenties with various outfits but didn't gain a lot of traction as a recording artist until the thirties. He released his first titles with pianist, Clarence Williams, at vocals with the Seven Gallon Jug Band in 1930: 'What If I Do?' and 'Wipe 'Em Off'. That was followed by numerous titles with Williams' Jug Band in 1933. May 7, 1934, witnessed him recording with Mezz Mezzrow before recording what may be his first piano solos on the 14th: 'Fingerbuster' and 'I've Got to Have My Moments'. Good example of stride piano is found in Smith's initial titles as a leader recorded with his Cubs on April 23, 1935, 'What Can I Do with a Foolish Little Girl Like You?' among them. He recorded his composition, 'Echo of Spring', on 22 May 1935 toward release on Brunswick 02388, Gardenia 4004 and Decca 7090. Come 'The Dipsy Doodle' bw 'That's a Plenty' with organist, Milt Herth, on Decca 1553 in 1937. During World War II Smith performed on several Eddie Condon Town Hall broadcasts in 1944.

'Chronological Classics 1925-1937'   Willie Lion Smith

Compilation: Chronological Classics 662

'Breeze' ('Blow My Baby Back to Me')   Willie Lion Smith & His Cubs

Recorded 22 May 1935 in NYC   Decca 39436

Music: James F. Hanley   Lyrics: Ballard MacDonald / Joe Goodwin

'The Swampland Is Calling Me'   Willie Lion Smith & His Cubs

Recorded 13 April 1937 in NYC   Decca 1291

Composition: Willie Smith / Clarence Williams

'Passionette'   Willie Lion Smith w O'Neil Spencer (drums)

Recorded 10 Jan 1938   Decca 2269 A

Composition: Willie Smith

'Morning Air'   Willie Lion Smith w O'Neil Spencer (drums)

Recorded 10 Jan 1938   Decca 2269 B

Composition: Willie Smith

'Rippling Waters'   Piano solo by Willie Lion Smith

Recorded 10 Jan 1939   Commodore B536

Composition: Willie Smith

'Sneakaway'   Piano solo by Willie Lion Smith

Recorded 10 Jan 1939   Commodore B537

Composition: Willie Smith

'What Is There to Say'   Piano solo by Willie Lion Smith

Recorded 10 Jan 1939   Commodore B538

Composition: Vernon Duke

Among the better-known lyricists of Smith's period was Andy Razaf who wrote the lyrics for numerous titles credited to pianist and music publisher, Clarence Williams, the latter with a practice of purchasing credits. Titles below are ascribed to Razaf rather than Williams where this is thought to be the case. Williams was indeed a well-regarded composer, only not of everything credited to him on record labels. Razaf was born only a couple of years after Smith and later died the same year. Among well-known titles receiving lyrics by Razaf are such as those of 1929: 'Black and Blue' by Waller and Brooks, and 'Honeysuckle Rose' by Waller. 'Squeeze Me' below (not to be confused with Ellington's 'Just Squeeze Me' of 1941) is a piano solo, but vocal versions are an instance of Williams credited for lyrics actually written by Razaf. Waller based the music for 'Squeeze Me' on an obscure blues called 'The Boy in the Boat'. Razaf's lyrics for 'Squeeze Me' were not so risqué as Tony Jackson's for 'The Boy in the Boat' probably recorded sometime 1930 by George Hannah and Meade Lux Lewis toward issue on Paramount 13024. In that version the boy in the boat refers to the clitoris and vagina. The melody for that may go back to 'Saint Louis Tickle' (Ossman-Dudley Trio 1906) in which is found Buddy Bolden's 'Funky Butt' of 1902 according to Jelly Roll Morton who recorded 'Funky Butt' as 'Buddy Bolden's Blues' in 1939. 'Funky Butt' had probably been Bolden's rendering of a traditional. [See Randolph / Mudcat Cafe / Pancocojams.]

'The Boy in the Boat' ('Squeeze Me')   Piano solo by Willie Lion Smith

Recorded 10 Jan 1939   Commodore B540

Music: Fats Waller   Lyrics: Andy Razaf

'Stormy Weather'   Piano solo by Willie Lion Smith

Recorded 10 Jan 1939   Commodore B544

Music: Harold Arlen   Lyrics: Ted Koehler

It was 1939 when Sidney Bechet (clarinet/sax) put together the Haitian Orchestra with trumpeter, Kenneth Roane, joined by Smith, Olin Aderhold on double bass and Leo Warney at drums. The purpose of this brief configuration was to record a string of Haitian traditionals, including a couple rumbas which form originated in Cuba. Most of those were issued on the Varsity label presumably at the time. One that wasn't was 'Meringue d'Amour' which later saw inclusion on an unknown date on the compilation, 'Sidney Bichet: Tropical Mood: 1931-1939'. Meringue is a Haitian style addressed by Bichet on 'Tropical Mood'. It is named after the French egg and sugar confection as a light, fluid dance.

'Mayotte Merengue'   Willie Lion Smith w the Haitian Orchestra

Recorded 22 Nov 1939   Varsity 8399

Haitian traditional

After World War II Smith began to tour Europe, eventually visiting North Africa in 1949-50 [Miles]:

'Here Comes the Band'   Willie Lion Smith w Wallace Bishop (drums)

Recorded 1 Dec 1949 in Paris

Issued in France on Royal Jazz 732 & Vogue 926-2   See also Inner City IC7015

Composition: Willie Smith / Jack Edwards

'Zig Zag'   Willie Lion Smith w Wallace Bishop (drums)

Recorded 1 Dec 1949 in Paris

Issued in France on Royal Jazz 733 & Vogue DP20   See also Inner City IC7015

Composition: Willie Smith

'Portrait of the Duke'   Willie Lion Smith w Wallace Bishop (drums)

Recorded 1 Dec 1949 in Paris

Issued in France on Royal Jazz 730 & Vogue DP20   See also Inner City IC7015

Composition: Willie Smith

In 1954 Smith appeared with Jimmy McPartland and Pee Wee Russell in the film short, 'Jazz Dance'. He joined Henry Red Allen's Dixieland All-Stars in May of 1957 with Buster Bailey at clarinet toward the album, 'Dixiecats', on Roulette R-25015. Sessions on 21 August, 19 September and 19 November of 1957 resulted in his album, 'The Legend of Willie The Lion Smith' in 1958. Another session on 8 November filled the album, 'The Lion Roars', issued on Dot DLP 3094 in 1958. In 1964 Smith published his autobiography, 'Music on My Mind'.

'Jazz Dance'   Film short by Roger Tilton   1954   Central Plaza Hall   NYC

'Ain't Misbehavin''   Piano solo by Willie Lion Smith

Recorded 21 August 1957

Issued on 'The Legend of Willie The Lion Smith' 1959

Music: Fats Waller / Harry Brooks   Lyrics: Andy Razaf

'Maple Leaf Rag'   Piano solo by Willie Lion Smith

Recorded 21 August 1957

Issued on 'The Legend of Willie The Lion Smith' 1959

Composition: Scott Joplin

'Ain't Misbehavin''   Piano solo by Willie Lion Smith

Filmed at the Newport Jazz Festival   1 July 1960

Music: Fats Waller / Harry Brooks   Lyrics: Andy Razaf

'Sparklets'   Piano solo by Willie Lion Smith

Filmed at the Newport Jazz Festival   1 July 1960

Composition: Willie Smith

'Twice as Nice as Paradise'   Television   Willie Lion Smith

'They Made It Twice as Nice as Paradise: And They Called It Dixieland'

'After Hours at Eddie Condon´s'   CBS Canada   17 Dec 1963

Composition: Richard A. Whiting / Raymond B. Egan   1916

'Fingerbuster'   Willie Lion Smith   Live in Berlin 1964

Composition: Willie Smith

'Ain't Misbehavin'' / 'St. Louis Blues'   Willie Lion Smith   Live in Berlin 1966

Music: Fats Waller / Harry Brooks   Lyrics: Andy Razaf

'St. Louis Blues composed by WC Handy 1914

'Relaxin''   Piano solo by Willie Lion Smith

Recorded 11 June 1970 in Washington D.C.

Issued on 'Live at Blues Alley'   Chiaroscuro CR 104   1973

'La Madelon''   Willie Lion Smith w Papa Jo Jones (drums)

Recorded 6 June 1972 in NYC

Issued on 'Le Lion Le Tigre Et La Madelon'   Jazz Odyssey JO-009   1972

See also 'The Lion and The Tiger'   Frémeaux & Associés FA 5678   2018

Smith had kept his last international engagements in 1971. His final recordings are thought to have been on 6 June 1972 including 'La Madelon' above. His death followed the next year on April 18th of 1973 in Newark, New Jersey.