People, Locations, Episodes

Willie ‘The Lion’ Smith, Composer born

Willie "TheLion" Smith, 1974

On this date in 1897, “Willie the Lion” Smith was born. He was a Black Jewish jazz pianist and composer.

Born Bertholoff William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Smith in Goshen, New York, he grew up in Newark, N.J., with his mother and stepfather.  He began studying piano at age six, inspired by his grandmother, who played organ and banjo, and by the Christian and Jewish music he heard in Harlem and Newark.  He had his bar mitzvah in 1910 and, in the 1940s, became cantor of the black synagogue in Harlem and claimed inspiration from the music he heard in synagogues as a child.

Smith was playing clubs by the age of 15. He married Blanche Merrill in 1916 and served a two-year enlistment in World War I until 1918. He was not as well known as his peers, James P. Johnson and “Fats” Waller.

Smith did not record much in the 1930s and 1940s, but his material took an upsurge in the 1950s. At this time, he made several records with different labels showcasing his playing, singing, and, in some cases, talking. Many of the great jazz artists of the 20th century noted Smith as a force in music; Duke Ellington paid tribute to him with his composition "Portrait of the Lion."

Willie, the Lion Smith, died in New York City on April 18, 1973.

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