Willie "The Lion" Smith

William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholf Smith (November 23, 1893 – April 18, 1973), nicknamed "the Lion", was an American jazz and stride pianist.

Early life and education William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholf, known as Willie, was born in 1893 in Goshen, New York. His mother and grandmother chose his names to reflect different parts of his heritage: Joseph after Saint Joseph (Bible), Bonaparte (French), and Bertholf (biological father's last name). William and Henry were added for "spiritual balance". When he was three, his mother married John Smith, and Smith was added as the boy's surname, after his stepfather.

In his memoir Smith reports that his father, Frank Bertholf (incorrectly spelled Bertholoff in many sources), was Jewish. Smith's New York birth record shows him as William H. Bertholf, with father, Frank Bertholf, an electrician from nearby Monroe, New York. Smith became at least somewhat conversant in Yiddish and studied Hebrew with children of a Jewish family who were clients of his mother's. He made his bar mitzvah at age thirteen in Newark. According to Ida, "Frank Bertholoff [sic] was a light-skinned playboy who loved his liquor, girls, and gambling." She threw Frank out of the house when their son Willie was two years old. After Frank Bertholf died in 1901, his mother married John Smith, a master mechanic from Paterson, New Jersey. When Willie was three, his mother and stepfather added the surname Smith to his legal name. He grew up in a large family with his mother and stepfather in Newark, New Jersey at 76 Academy Street.

When they asked for volunteers to fire the French 75, I stepped forward. French Captain-in-Charge told us: "Well, I think it will take you a month to learn the mechanisms, and then we'll shoot you up to the front." I learned that mechanism in six hours. They tabbed me as an A-1 gunner right off the bat. I shot those 75's at the Fritzies for forty-nine days straight without a break or any relief. Word got back and the Colonel came up and said: "Smith, you're a lion with that gun." That name stuck with me ever since.

He was a decorated veteran of the 350th Field Artillery, a regiment of the Buffalo Soldiers.

Around 1915, he married Blanche Merrill (née Howard). Smith and Merrill are thought to have separated before Smith joined the army in 1917, where he served as a corporal. But they were listed in the 1920 census as living together in Newark, New Jersey. Merrill was white, and Smith was the only man in their apartment building who was classified as black on this census.

In the 1940s, his music found appreciation with a wider audience. Smith toured North America and Europe up to 1971. To leave the US, he needed a birth certificate. He went to the Orange County Courthouse and found it, but discovered that the birth certificate said he was born on November 25, in contradiction to his mother telling him he was born on November 23.

Legacy The liner notes of his 1958 LP The Legend of Willie "The Lion" Smith (Grand Awards Records GA 33-368) state: "Duke Ellington has never lost his awe of the Lion's prowess." It quotes Ellington as saying, "Willie The Lion was the greatest influence of all the great jazz piano players who have come along. He has a beat that stays in the mind." This LP's cover, features a painting of the Lion by Tracy Sugarman. Ellington attested to his admiration when he composed and recorded "Portrait of the Lion" in 1939.

Orange County (NY) Executive Edward Diana issued a proclamation declaring September 18 Willie "the Lion" Smith Day in Orange County, the date of the first Goshen Jazz Festival.

Discography 1925-37 - Chronological (Classics?) 1937-38 - Chronological (Classics?) 1938-40 - Chronological (Classics?) 1944-49 - Chronological (Classics?) 1950 - Chronological (Classics?) 1950-53 - Chronological (Classics?) 1957 - Accent On Piano (Urania, 1957) 1957 - Dixiecats_Dixieland All Stars (Roulette, 1957) 1957.08 - The Legend of Willie "the Lion" Smith (Grand Award, 1959) 1957.11 - The Lion Roars (Dot, 1958) 1958 - Luckey & the Lion: Harlem Piano (Good Time Jazz, 1960) 1958 - Luckey & the Lion: Harlem Piano (Good Time Jazz, 1960) 1966.11 - Music On My Mind (SABA, 1966) 1966.11 - Pork and Beans (Black Lion, 1972) 1967.04 - The Memories of Willie "The Lion" Smith (Victor?) 1967.02 - Grand Piano: Virtuoso Duets by Willie Smith & Don Ewell (Swaggie, 1966) 1970.06 - Live at Blues Alley (Chiaroscuro, 1973) 1970-71 - Relaxing (Chiaroscuro, 1977) 1971.02 - Willie the Lion and His Washington Cubs (Fat Cat's Jazz, 1971) 1972.02 - The Lion and the Tiger (Jazz Odissey?) 1972.06 - The Lion, the Tiger and the Madelon (Jazz Odissey?) The following albums are contained in the Chronological Classics serie 1949 - Willie "the Lion" Smith (GNP Crescendo, 1972) Vogue sessions 1949 - The Lion (Vogue, 1966) 1949-50 - Memorial (Vogue, 1960) 1950 - Piano Solos by Willie Smith, the Lion of the Piano: Original Compositions (Commodore, 1961) 1950 - Piano Solos by Willie Smith, the Lion of the Piano: Show Time (Commodore, 1962) 1950 - A Legend (Mainstream, 1965) Commodore sessions