Willie "The Lion" Smith was a pioneering jazz pianist born in 1897 who came to be known as one of the greatest jazz pianists of the 1920s. He performed in some of Harlem's top nightclubs and inspired younger musicians like Duke Ellington. Though overshadowed by peers later in his career, Smith recorded influential solo albums in the late 1930s and continued performing until his death in 1973, leaving behind a legacy as a master of stride piano and mentor to greats like Ellington.

1. Willie “The Lion” Smith

2. Willie Smith was born Henry Joseph Bonaparte
Bertholoff on November 25, 1897 in Goshen New
York.
Son of Frank Bertholoff and Ida Oliver.
Raised in Newark New Jersey.
Goshen Newark
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3. Willie was a pianist
who stood at the
center of the New
York City jazz world
during the 1920s.
http://www.musicianguide.com/biographies/1608004818/Willie-the-Lion-Smith.html
Willie’s Finger Buster

4. He performed at the
most fashionable
nightclubs in New York
City’s African-
American Harlem
neighborhood. He also
accompanied other
musicians on
recordings, while
inspiring and
mentoring younger
musicians.
http://www.musicianguide.com/biographies/1608004818/Willie-the-Lion-Smith.html

5. He is known as a pioneer of stride piano, which
was the first important solo piano style in the
jazz tradition.
Stride piano is a style of jazz piano playing in which
the right hand plays the melody while the left hand
plays a single bass note or octave on the strong beat
and a chord on the weak beat.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/stride+piano?s=t

6. He is less well known than the other pianists of
the 1920s such as James P. Johnson and
Thomas P. “Fats” Waller. This was only
because he made few recordings under his
own name until later in his career.
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7. Charleston

9. Smith’s musical life began when he found an
organ missing half its keys in the basement of
the family home, and began trying to imitate
the music he heard his mother play in church.
At this time he was about 6.
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anguide.com/biogr
aphies/160800481
8/Willie-the-Lion-
Smith.html

10. His Uncle Rob gave him some pointers, and he
began hearing ragtime hits from Scott Joplin’s
“Maple Leaf Rag” and George Botsford’s “Black
and White Rag.”
Maple Leaf Rag
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11. Ragtime
Ragtime piano is rhythm in which the
accompaniment is strict two-four time and the
melody, with improvised embellishments, is in
steady syncopation.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ragtime

12. In search of bigger things Smith moved to
Atlantic City, New Jersey. He heard ragtime
pianist Eubie Blake, and it wasn’t long before
he was making trips into New York City to hear
other piano players.
Eubie Blake
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13. His career was interrupted when he was enlisted
in the U.S. army in 1916 and became an
artillery gunner. His unit was sent to France
where he dodged poison-gas canisters and
inspired an officer to say, “Smith, you’re a lion
with that gun.” And from there on he was
known as Willie “The Lion” Smith.
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14. After his war duties
were over he
landed a job at a
Harlem’s
sharpest
club, Leroy’s. He
would play solo
or be
accompanied, an
d on any given
night some of the
top
performers, Bill
“Bojangles”
Robinson or Bert
Williams wouldhttp://www.musicianguide.com/biographies/1608004818/Willie-the-Lion-Smith.html

15. Smith’s 78 rpm record
that Mamie Smith
and himself
made, “Crazy Blues,”
is generally regarded
as the first blues
recording. It became
a bestseller and
started a decade-
long trend in blues
vocal recordings by
women.
http://www.musicianguide.com/biographies/1608004818/Willie-the-Lion-Smith.html

16. Edward Kennedy “Duke”
Ellington was a pianist
who looked up to
Willie. He later wrote
the introduction to
Willie’s memoirs.
http://www.musicianguide.com/biographies/1608004818/Willie-the-Lion-Smith.html

17. Ellington declared that:
“the Lion has been the greatest
influence on most of the great piano players
who have been exposed to his fire, harmonic
lavishness, his stride–what a luxury. Fats
Waller, James P. Johnson, Count Basie, Donald
Lambert, Joe Turner, Sam Ervis and of course I
swam in it. Even the great Art Tatum showed
strong patterns of Willie Smithisms after being
exposed to the Lion”
http://www.musicianguide.com/biographies/1608004818/Willie-the-Lion-Smith.html

18. Count Basie
Donald Lambert
Joe
Turner
Art Tatum

19. New jazz trends had overshadowed Smith’s
status as a top jazz attraction. He had an
interest in classical music and took classical
piano and theory lessons from a German
immigrant, Hans Steinke, in the 1930s.
http://www.musicianguide.com/biographies/1608004818/Willie-the-Lion-Smith.html

20. He began to write short, classical-influenced
original compositions, to which he turned
when he finally got the chance to record.
After making some small-band records
with a group he called Willie the Lion Smith
and His Cubs in 1935, he was signed to the
Commodore label and in 1939 released the
group of sides for which he was best
known.
http://www.musicianguide.com/biographies/1608004818/Willie-the-Lion-Smith.html

21. Several were Smith originals, with names like
"Passionette" and "Echoes of Spring"--little
tone poems on the piano that mixed jazz
elements with classical harmonies.
http://www.musicianguide.com/biographies/1608004818/Willie-the-Lion-Smith.html

22. His solo recordings from
1939 are often
reckoned to be his
finest work, but he
went on making discs
well into the 1960s and
beyond, some of them
including his own
spoken comments and
repartee, as he
demonstrated his
playing at the keyboard.
http://musicians.allaboutjazz.com/musician.php?id=4460#.UfwDa9K1GPQ

23. 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.
http://musicians.allaboutjazz.com/musician.php?id=4460#.UfwDa9K1GPQ

24. Willie “The Lion” Smith lived
through six decades of music
and, despite the changes in
musical styles over those
years; he remained true to
himself and his own style.
http://musicians.allaboutjazz.com/musician.php?id=4460#.UfwDa9K1GPQ

25. He recorded a final album in Paris in June 1972
and played right up until his death in April
1973. Today, his spirit and his legacy still live
on through his music.
http://musicians.allaboutjazz.com/musician.php?id=4460#.UfwDa9K1GPQ

27. Sources Cited
"All About Jazz." musicians.allaboutjazz. All About Jazz, 25 Nov 2010. Web. 2 Aug
2013. <http://musicians.allaboutjazz.com/musician.php?id=4460
"Dictionary.com." Dictionary.reference. Dictionary.com. Web. 2 Aug 2013.
http://dictionary.reference.com/
Hoefer, George. "Willie the Lion Smith Biography." musicianguide.com. Net
Industries, n.d. Web. 24 Jul 2013.
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Smith.html