William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholoff Smith (23 November 1893 – 18 Apri… Read Full Bio ↴William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholoff Smith (23 November 1893 – 18 April 1973), a.k.a. "The Lion", was an American jazz pianist and one of the masters of the stride style, usually grouped with James P. Johnson and Thomas "Fats" Waller as the three greatest practitioners of the genre from its Golden Age, c. 1920–1943.
William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholoff Smith was born in Goshen, New York. His mother and grandmother chose the names to reflect the different parts of his heritage: Joseph after Saint Joseph (Bible), Bonaparte (French), Bertholoff (biological father's last name), Smith (added when he was three, his stepfather's name), and William and Henry which were added for "spiritual balance". In his memoir he reports that his father, Frank Bertholoff, was Jewish. Willie was at least somewhat conversant in Yiddish, as he demonstrated in a television interview late in his life. Willie's mother, Ida Oliver, had "Spanish, Negro, and Mohawk Indian blood". Her mother, Ann Oliver, was a banjo player and had been in Primrose and West minstrel shows (Smith also had two cousins who were dancers in the shows, Etta and John Bloom). According to Ida, "Frank Bertholoff was a light-skinned playboy who loved his liquor, girls, and gambling." His mother threw Frank out of the house when "The Lion" was two years old. When his father died in 1901, his mother married John Smith, a master mechanic from Paterson, NJ. The surname Smith was added to that of "The Lion" at age 3. He grew up living at 76 Academy Street in Newark.
John Smith worked for C.M. Bailey, Pork Packers, and he would leave the house around midnight to pick up the freshly killed pigs and bring them to the packing house. He was supposed to be home by 4 A.M., but would usually go to bars. Eventually, Willie's mother wanted him to accompany his stepfather to work to hopefully ensure that John Smith would come straight home and not go drinking. Willie said he actually enjoyed his job, but most of the time he would have to drive the horses home. He also could only work on Fridays and Saturdays, as his mother did not want him to miss school. He wrote about the experience of being at the slaughterhouse with his stepfather:
I couldn't stand to see what I saw at the slaughterhouse. I would watch wide-eyed as the squealing pigs slid down the iron rails to the cutter where they were slashed through the middle, with the two halves falling into a tank of hot water. The kill sometimes went to as many as four hundred pigs a night. It was a sickening sight to watch. But the cries from the pigs brought forth an emotional excitement. It was another weird but musical sound that I can still hear in my head. The squeaks, the squeals, the dipping them in hot water, they put them on a hook, take off the head, the legs, going down an aisle—I hear it on an oboe. That's what you hear in a symphony: destruction, war, peace, beauty, all mixed.
In 1907, the family moved to 90 Bloome Street in Newark, but moved again around 1912. His stepfather got a new job at Crucible Steel Company, across the Passaic River in Harrison, New Jersey. The job paid more, and Willie would have to get him before his bosses got him drunk on his own money.
He attended the Baxter School, rumored to be a school for bad children. The school was notorious for brawls between Irish, Italian, and African-American children. Willie was in Mrs. Black's fruit store and was caught with his hand in her register. According to Smith's memoirs, he had wanted to borrow a dime to see S.H. Dudley's traveling road show at Blaney's Theater. The thing that shocked Willie the most was the fact that she turned him over to the police. Mrs. Black's son-in-law was the number three tough guy in Newark, and their whole family hated policemen and wouldn't allow them into their store. Willie later wrote, "But they sure didn't mind turning over a 10 year old boy to the police." He went to children's court and was sentenced to a ten dollar fine and probation.
After that incident, he was transferred to Morton School, and began sixth grade at his new school (which had a lot less brawling). He would go onto attend Barringer High School (then known as Newark High School). In an effort to get the attention of the ladies, he attempted sports including swimming, skating, track, basketball, sledding, cycling, and boxing. He learned to swim in the Morris Canal.
Prizefighting was the sport he was most interested in. Willie says that "maybe that because I've known most of the great fighters from way back. They liked to visit the night clubs...". He got to kid around with Jack Johnson, Jack Dempsey, Battling Siki, Kid Chocolate, Sam Langford, Joe Gans, Bob Fitzsimmons, Harry Greb, Joe Louis, and Gene Tunney. Fitzsimmons owned a saloon on Market Street in Newark, and that is where While learned about Stanley Ketchel, Kid McCoy, Benny Leonard, Jimmy Britt, and Charlie Warner.
Willie also belonged to a gang, and the gang had a club called The Ramblers (two famous members were Abner Zwillman and Niggy Rutman). Willie was one of two colored men in the gang, the other being Louis Moss, who Willie referred to as a "sweet talker, who could take his foes apart". Moss later became known as "Big Sue" and owned a saloon in Tenderloin, Manhattan. Moss was his own bouncer at his club (according to Willie, Moss was 6'4" and about 240 pounds). Willie says he used to help him out by playing piano in his back room.
When Willie was about six, he went downstairs to the basement of his Academy Street home and found the organ his mother used to play. It was not in good shape, and nearly half of the keys were missing. After his mother discovered his interest in the instrument, she taught him the melodies she knew. One of the first songs he learned was Home! Sweet Home!. His uncle Rob, who was a bass singer and ran his own quartet, would teach Willie how to dance. Willie entered an amateur dance contest at the Arcadia Theater and won first place and the prize, ten dollars. After that, he focused more on playing music at the clubs.
Willie had wanted a new piano very badly, but every time he thought his mother was able to afford it, there was a new mouth to feed. Willie got a job at Hauseman's Footwear store shining shoes and running errands, where he was paid five dollars a week. "Old Man" Hauseman paid that much because he liked the fact that Willie could speak Hebrew and also because Willie wanted to buy a piano with the money. As it turned out, Marshall & Wendell's was holding a contest: the object was to guess how many dots there were in a printed circle in their newspaper advertisement. Willie used arithmetic to help guess the number, and the upright piano was delivered the next day. From that day forth, he sat down at the piano and played. He would play songs he heard in the clubs, including 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, about which he said "the lyrics to this song were a sex education, especially for a twelve year old boy.". His other favorites picked up from the saloons were She's Got Good Booty and Baby, Let Your Drawers Hang Low.
By the early 1910s he was playing in New York City and Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Smith served in World War I, where he saw action in France, and played drum with the African-American regimental band led by Tim Brymn. He also played basketball with the regimental team. Legend has it that his nickname "The Lion" came from his reported bravery while serving as a heavy artillery gunner. He was a decorated veteran of the 350th Field Artillery.
Around 1915, he married Blanche Merrill (née Howard), a song writer and lyricist who wrote a number of songs and lyrics for Broadway shows from about 1912 to 1925, particularly for Fanny Brice. Smith and Merrill are thought to have separated before Smith joined the army in 1917, serving as a corporal (he claimed sergeant was his rank), but were still living together in Newark, New Jersey at the time of the 1920 census. Merrill was white and Smith was the only black man living in their apartment building at the time.
He returned to working in Harlem clubs and in rent parties, where Smith and his contemporaries James P. Johnson and Fats Waller developed a new, more sophisticated piano style later called “stride.”[6] also after the war, where he worked for decades, often as a soloist, sometimes in bands and accompanying blues singers such as Mamie Smith. Although working in relative obscurity, he was a "musician's musician", influencing countless others including Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, and Artie Shaw.
In the 1940s his music found appreciation with a wider audience, and he 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.
Willie "The Lion" Smith died in New York City. His autobiography, Music on My Mind, The Memoirs Of An American Pianist, written with the assistance of George Hoefer, was published by Doubleday and Company in 1964. It included a generous foreword written by Duke Ellington. It also includes a comprehensive list of his compositions and a discography. His students included such notable names as Mel Powell, Brooks Kerr, and Mike Lipskin. With the latter, he made two albums: a two-LP set of playing and reminiscences, The Memoirs of Willie the Lion Smith, done in 1965, and an album of solos and duets from 1971: California Here I Come, which coincided with Mike's relocation from New York to Marin County.
He was present during the taking of the famous jazz photograph A Great Day in Harlem in 1958. However, he famously was sitting down resting when the selected shot was taken, leaving him out of the final picture. This is discussed in depth in Jean Bach's award-winning 1994 documentary on the history of this photo, released on DVD.
Willie Smith had 10 brothers and a sister (including half-siblings). His older brother Jerome died at the age of 15. His other older brother, George, became an officer in Atlantic City, and died in 1946. Willie said of George, "Our paths didn't cross very often in later life. His friends and connections were always on the other side of the fence from mine." His half-brother Robert owned a bar on West Street in Newark. His half-brother Melvin lived on Mulberry Street in Manhattan. Smith had no idea what became of his other two half-brothers, Norman and Ralph. All of the other siblings lived to the ages of 3 to 7.
According to Smith, Frank Bertholoff, his birth father was Jewish. As a boy, he delivered clean clothes to his mother's clients, including to a prosperous Jewish family who invited him to sit in on Hebrew lessons on Saturday mornings. Willie was bar-mitzvahed in Newark at age thirteen, and later in life worked as a Hebrew cantor for a Black Jewish congregation in Harlem.
Willie the Lion Smith lived long enough to be considered a walking legend. In his later years he received frequent honors for his life's work including a Willie "The Lion" Smith Day in Newark, New Jersey.
Perhaps the greatest evidence of the Lion's greatness were the words of praise and respect he received from his peers. Smith died at the age of 79, April 18, 1973, in New York, the city he had called home for most of his life.
The liner notes 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 is also noted for its album cover, featuring a painting of the Lion by Tracy Sugarman. Ellington demonstrated his admiration when composing and recording the highly regarded "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.
On January 10, 1939, Smith recorded 14 piano solos for Commodore Records, including eight of his own compositions:
"Morning Air"
"Echoes of Spring"
"Concentrating"
"Fading Star"
"Passionette"
"Rippling Waters"
"Sneakaway"
"Fingerbuster"
and six standards:
"What Is There to Say?"
"Between The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea"
"The Boy In The Boat (Squeeze Me)"
"Tea For Two"
"I'll Follow You"
"Stormy Weather"
While he made many other recordings from 1925 until the time of his death, this session is often cited by fans and critics as his masterwork ("the high points of his career," All Music Guide to Jazz, 2002 edition p. 1181).
A sampling of Smith's recorded output, from 1925–1953 (approximately five CDs; out-of-print as of 2010), was issued by the French label Chronogical Classics.
William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholoff Smith was born in Goshen, New York. His mother and grandmother chose the names to reflect the different parts of his heritage: Joseph after Saint Joseph (Bible), Bonaparte (French), Bertholoff (biological father's last name), Smith (added when he was three, his stepfather's name), and William and Henry which were added for "spiritual balance". In his memoir he reports that his father, Frank Bertholoff, was Jewish. Willie was at least somewhat conversant in Yiddish, as he demonstrated in a television interview late in his life. Willie's mother, Ida Oliver, had "Spanish, Negro, and Mohawk Indian blood". Her mother, Ann Oliver, was a banjo player and had been in Primrose and West minstrel shows (Smith also had two cousins who were dancers in the shows, Etta and John Bloom). According to Ida, "Frank Bertholoff was a light-skinned playboy who loved his liquor, girls, and gambling." His mother threw Frank out of the house when "The Lion" was two years old. When his father died in 1901, his mother married John Smith, a master mechanic from Paterson, NJ. The surname Smith was added to that of "The Lion" at age 3. He grew up living at 76 Academy Street in Newark.
John Smith worked for C.M. Bailey, Pork Packers, and he would leave the house around midnight to pick up the freshly killed pigs and bring them to the packing house. He was supposed to be home by 4 A.M., but would usually go to bars. Eventually, Willie's mother wanted him to accompany his stepfather to work to hopefully ensure that John Smith would come straight home and not go drinking. Willie said he actually enjoyed his job, but most of the time he would have to drive the horses home. He also could only work on Fridays and Saturdays, as his mother did not want him to miss school. He wrote about the experience of being at the slaughterhouse with his stepfather:
I couldn't stand to see what I saw at the slaughterhouse. I would watch wide-eyed as the squealing pigs slid down the iron rails to the cutter where they were slashed through the middle, with the two halves falling into a tank of hot water. The kill sometimes went to as many as four hundred pigs a night. It was a sickening sight to watch. But the cries from the pigs brought forth an emotional excitement. It was another weird but musical sound that I can still hear in my head. The squeaks, the squeals, the dipping them in hot water, they put them on a hook, take off the head, the legs, going down an aisle—I hear it on an oboe. That's what you hear in a symphony: destruction, war, peace, beauty, all mixed.
In 1907, the family moved to 90 Bloome Street in Newark, but moved again around 1912. His stepfather got a new job at Crucible Steel Company, across the Passaic River in Harrison, New Jersey. The job paid more, and Willie would have to get him before his bosses got him drunk on his own money.
He attended the Baxter School, rumored to be a school for bad children. The school was notorious for brawls between Irish, Italian, and African-American children. Willie was in Mrs. Black's fruit store and was caught with his hand in her register. According to Smith's memoirs, he had wanted to borrow a dime to see S.H. Dudley's traveling road show at Blaney's Theater. The thing that shocked Willie the most was the fact that she turned him over to the police. Mrs. Black's son-in-law was the number three tough guy in Newark, and their whole family hated policemen and wouldn't allow them into their store. Willie later wrote, "But they sure didn't mind turning over a 10 year old boy to the police." He went to children's court and was sentenced to a ten dollar fine and probation.
After that incident, he was transferred to Morton School, and began sixth grade at his new school (which had a lot less brawling). He would go onto attend Barringer High School (then known as Newark High School). In an effort to get the attention of the ladies, he attempted sports including swimming, skating, track, basketball, sledding, cycling, and boxing. He learned to swim in the Morris Canal.
Prizefighting was the sport he was most interested in. Willie says that "maybe that because I've known most of the great fighters from way back. They liked to visit the night clubs...". He got to kid around with Jack Johnson, Jack Dempsey, Battling Siki, Kid Chocolate, Sam Langford, Joe Gans, Bob Fitzsimmons, Harry Greb, Joe Louis, and Gene Tunney. Fitzsimmons owned a saloon on Market Street in Newark, and that is where While learned about Stanley Ketchel, Kid McCoy, Benny Leonard, Jimmy Britt, and Charlie Warner.
Willie also belonged to a gang, and the gang had a club called The Ramblers (two famous members were Abner Zwillman and Niggy Rutman). Willie was one of two colored men in the gang, the other being Louis Moss, who Willie referred to as a "sweet talker, who could take his foes apart". Moss later became known as "Big Sue" and owned a saloon in Tenderloin, Manhattan. Moss was his own bouncer at his club (according to Willie, Moss was 6'4" and about 240 pounds). Willie says he used to help him out by playing piano in his back room.
When Willie was about six, he went downstairs to the basement of his Academy Street home and found the organ his mother used to play. It was not in good shape, and nearly half of the keys were missing. After his mother discovered his interest in the instrument, she taught him the melodies she knew. One of the first songs he learned was Home! Sweet Home!. His uncle Rob, who was a bass singer and ran his own quartet, would teach Willie how to dance. Willie entered an amateur dance contest at the Arcadia Theater and won first place and the prize, ten dollars. After that, he focused more on playing music at the clubs.
Willie had wanted a new piano very badly, but every time he thought his mother was able to afford it, there was a new mouth to feed. Willie got a job at Hauseman's Footwear store shining shoes and running errands, where he was paid five dollars a week. "Old Man" Hauseman paid that much because he liked the fact that Willie could speak Hebrew and also because Willie wanted to buy a piano with the money. As it turned out, Marshall & Wendell's was holding a contest: the object was to guess how many dots there were in a printed circle in their newspaper advertisement. Willie used arithmetic to help guess the number, and the upright piano was delivered the next day. From that day forth, he sat down at the piano and played. He would play songs he heard in the clubs, including 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, about which he said "the lyrics to this song were a sex education, especially for a twelve year old boy.". His other favorites picked up from the saloons were She's Got Good Booty and Baby, Let Your Drawers Hang Low.
By the early 1910s he was playing in New York City and Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Smith served in World War I, where he saw action in France, and played drum with the African-American regimental band led by Tim Brymn. He also played basketball with the regimental team. Legend has it that his nickname "The Lion" came from his reported bravery while serving as a heavy artillery gunner. He was a decorated veteran of the 350th Field Artillery.
Around 1915, he married Blanche Merrill (née Howard), a song writer and lyricist who wrote a number of songs and lyrics for Broadway shows from about 1912 to 1925, particularly for Fanny Brice. Smith and Merrill are thought to have separated before Smith joined the army in 1917, serving as a corporal (he claimed sergeant was his rank), but were still living together in Newark, New Jersey at the time of the 1920 census. Merrill was white and Smith was the only black man living in their apartment building at the time.
He returned to working in Harlem clubs and in rent parties, where Smith and his contemporaries James P. Johnson and Fats Waller developed a new, more sophisticated piano style later called “stride.”[6] also after the war, where he worked for decades, often as a soloist, sometimes in bands and accompanying blues singers such as Mamie Smith. Although working in relative obscurity, he was a "musician's musician", influencing countless others including Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, and Artie Shaw.
In the 1940s his music found appreciation with a wider audience, and he 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.
Willie "The Lion" Smith died in New York City. His autobiography, Music on My Mind, The Memoirs Of An American Pianist, written with the assistance of George Hoefer, was published by Doubleday and Company in 1964. It included a generous foreword written by Duke Ellington. It also includes a comprehensive list of his compositions and a discography. His students included such notable names as Mel Powell, Brooks Kerr, and Mike Lipskin. With the latter, he made two albums: a two-LP set of playing and reminiscences, The Memoirs of Willie the Lion Smith, done in 1965, and an album of solos and duets from 1971: California Here I Come, which coincided with Mike's relocation from New York to Marin County.
He was present during the taking of the famous jazz photograph A Great Day in Harlem in 1958. However, he famously was sitting down resting when the selected shot was taken, leaving him out of the final picture. This is discussed in depth in Jean Bach's award-winning 1994 documentary on the history of this photo, released on DVD.
Willie Smith had 10 brothers and a sister (including half-siblings). His older brother Jerome died at the age of 15. His other older brother, George, became an officer in Atlantic City, and died in 1946. Willie said of George, "Our paths didn't cross very often in later life. His friends and connections were always on the other side of the fence from mine." His half-brother Robert owned a bar on West Street in Newark. His half-brother Melvin lived on Mulberry Street in Manhattan. Smith had no idea what became of his other two half-brothers, Norman and Ralph. All of the other siblings lived to the ages of 3 to 7.
According to Smith, Frank Bertholoff, his birth father was Jewish. As a boy, he delivered clean clothes to his mother's clients, including to a prosperous Jewish family who invited him to sit in on Hebrew lessons on Saturday mornings. Willie was bar-mitzvahed in Newark at age thirteen, and later in life worked as a Hebrew cantor for a Black Jewish congregation in Harlem.
Willie the Lion Smith lived long enough to be considered a walking legend. In his later years he received frequent honors for his life's work including a Willie "The Lion" Smith Day in Newark, New Jersey.
Perhaps the greatest evidence of the Lion's greatness were the words of praise and respect he received from his peers. Smith died at the age of 79, April 18, 1973, in New York, the city he had called home for most of his life.
The liner notes 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 is also noted for its album cover, featuring a painting of the Lion by Tracy Sugarman. Ellington demonstrated his admiration when composing and recording the highly regarded "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.
On January 10, 1939, Smith recorded 14 piano solos for Commodore Records, including eight of his own compositions:
"Morning Air"
"Echoes of Spring"
"Concentrating"
"Fading Star"
"Passionette"
"Rippling Waters"
"Sneakaway"
"Fingerbuster"
and six standards:
"What Is There to Say?"
"Between The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea"
"The Boy In The Boat (Squeeze Me)"
"Tea For Two"
"I'll Follow You"
"Stormy Weather"
While he made many other recordings from 1925 until the time of his death, this session is often cited by fans and critics as his masterwork ("the high points of his career," All Music Guide to Jazz, 2002 edition p. 1181).
A sampling of Smith's recorded output, from 1925–1953 (approximately five CDs; out-of-print as of 2010), was issued by the French label Chronogical Classics.
Am I Blue?
Willie "The Lion" Smith Lyrics
We have lyrics for 'Am I Blue?' by these artists:
Al Jolson & Isham Jones & His Orchestra There she is, my old gal, There he is, my old…
Ambrose & His Orchestra I'm just a woman, a lonely woman Waiting on the weary…
Benny Goodman and His Orchestra I gotta right to sing the blues I gotta right to…
Billie Holiday It was a morning, long before dawn Without a warning I…
Billie Holiday & Eddie Heywood & His Orchestra It was a morning, long before dawn Without a warning I…
Billie Holiday & Eddie Heywood and His Orchestra It was a morning, long before dawn Without a warning I…
Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra It was a morning, long before dawn Without a warning I…
Billie Holiday (Feat. Teddy Wilson & His Orchestra) I'm just a woman, a lonely woman Waiting on the weary…
Billie Holiday and Her Orchestra It was a morning, long before dawn Without a warning I…
Billie Holiday; Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra It was a morning, long before dawn Without a warning I…
Blues & Brothers I am what I am, I can't help myself And if…
Bob Haring and His Orchestra I'm just a woman, a lonely woman Waiting on the weary…
Bunny Berigan I got a right to sing the blues I got a…
Charles Creath's Jazz-O-Maniacs I'm just a woman, a lonely woman Waiting on the weary…
Cher Am I blue, ah am I blue Ain't these tears in…
Claudine Longet Am I blue, am I blue Ain't these tears in my…
Columbia Studio Orchestra I'm just a woman, a lonely woman Waiting on the weary…
Dave Brubeck and Jimmy Rushing I'm just a woman, a lonely woman Waiting on the weary…
Dinah Washington I'm just a woman, a lonely woman Waiting on the weary…
Eddie Cochran Well am I blue, am I blue Ain't these tears in…
Eddie Heywood & His Orchestra w/ Billie Holiday It was a morning, long before dawn Without a warning I…
Eddie Heywood and His Orchestra I'm just a woman, a lonely woman Waiting on the weary…
Ella Fitzgerald I am dejected, I am depressed Yet resurrected and sailing th…
Elliot Goldenthal It was a morning, long before dawn Without a warning I…
Ethel Waters I'm just a woman, a lonely woman Waiting on the weary…
Gloria Lynne I'm just a woman, a lonely woman Waiting on the weary…
Gordon Langford and his Orchestra I'm just a woman, a lonely woman Waiting on the weary…
Helen Merrill I'm just a woman, a lonely woman Waiting on the weary…
Helen Merrill & Kenny Dorham I'm just a woman, a lonely woman Waiting on the weary…
Hoagy Carmichael I'm just a man, a lonely man Waiting on the weary…
Hoagy Carmichael & Lauren Bacall I'm just a man, a lonely man Waiting on the weary…
Jack Hylton and His Orchestra I'm just a woman, a lonely woman Waiting on the weary…
Jimmy Rushing I'm just a woman, a lonely woman Waiting on the weary…
Joe Haymes & His Orchestra I'm just a woman, a lonely woman Waiting on the weary…
Julie London Am I blue Am I blue Aren't these tears, in…
Leo Reisman & His Orchestra I'm just a woman, a lonely woman Waiting on the weary…
Lillian Boutte Am I blue, am I blue, Ain't these tears in my…
Linda Ronstadt & Nelson Riddle Orchestra Am I blue, am I blue? Ain't these tears in my…
Ma Rainey Layin' in bed this mornin' with my face turned to…
Muggsy Spanier Cold empty bed, springs hard as lead Pains in my head,…
Nat King Cole Got up this morning Along about dawn Without a warning I fou…
Nat Shilkret and the Victor Orchestra I got a right to sing the blues I got a…
Nelson Riddle Am I blue, am I blue? Ain't these tears in my…
Philip Spitalny and His Orchestra I'm just a woman, a lonely woman Waiting on the weary…
Ray Charles Am I blue? Am I blue? Ain't these tears In my eyes…
Rick Nelson I'm just a woman, a lonely woman Waiting on the weary…
Ricky Nelson I'm just a woman, a lonely woman Waiting on the weary…
Rita Coolidge I'm just a woman, a lonely woman Waiting on the weary…
The Dave Brubeck Quartet I'm just a woman, a lonely woman Waiting on the weary…
The Dave Brubeck Quartet Jimmy Rushing I'm just a woman, a lonely woman Waiting on the weary…
The Dave Brubeck Quartet;Jimmy Rushing I'm just a woman, a lonely woman Waiting on the weary…
The Dreamers It’s hotter than a sauna Smoking all this marijuana Numb the…
Tom Gerun & His Orchestra I'm just a woman, a lonely woman Waiting on the weary…
Tommy & Jimmy Dorsey (Oh, ah, oh, ah, ) If your lookin' for a lovin'…
Tommy Dorsey I snore in my sleep, I'm always late for dinner, And…
Various Artists Snoop Doggy Do owww ohhhh og gg the bomb Snoop Doggy Do oww…
Vaughn DeLeath When the mellow moon begins to beam, Every night I dream…
Vic Damone I'm just a woman, a lonely woman Waiting on the weary…
Willie Nelson Am I blue am I blue ain't these tears in…
Ziggy Elman and His Orchestra I'm just a woman, a lonely woman Waiting on the weary…
We have lyrics for these tracks by Willie "The Lion" Smith:
Ain't Misbehavin' No one to talk with All by myself No one to walk…
Ain't She Sweet Ain't she sweet? See her walking down that street. Yes I…
Ain't She Sweet? Ain't she sweet? See her walking down that street. Yes I…
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea I don't want you, but I'd hate to lose you You've…
Bugle Call Rag You're bound to fall for the bugle call; You're gonna brag…
Careless Love Love, oh love, oh careless love You've fly through my head…
Josephine There never was a gal I could love, like I…
Sophisticated Lady Sophisticated lady tryin' to change my ways Just because yo…
Stormy Weather Don't know why there's no sun up in the sky Stormy…
Stormy Weather (12 Don't know why there's no sun up in the sky Stormy…
Stormy Weather (12- Don't know why there's no sun up in the sky Stormy…
The Man I Love When the mellow moon begins to beam, Every night I dream…
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
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@itsRemco
Rare Eubie Blake clip playing "Swanee River": 22:24
My Willie "The Lion" Smith Piano Synthesia playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLL-3HQ9MkfjS80Y0TBx2lr4zCwcH_jvTY
Musicians about each other:
12:58: Willie "The Lion" Smith about James P. Johnson
13:50 / 34:22 & 34:47: Willie "The Lion" Smith about Jelly Roll Morton
28:02: Willie "The Lion" Smith about Thomas "Fats" Waller
29:44: Willie "The Lion" Smith about Duke Ellington
41:55: Dick Hyman about Willie "The Lion" Smith
00:35: Duke Ellington about Willie "The Lion" Smith
01:29 & 40:25: Billy Taylor about Willie "The Lion" Smith
02:27: Artie Shaw about Willie "The Lion" Smith
05:01: Amiri Baraka about Willie "The Lion" Smith
05:14 & 41:35: Brooks Kerr about Willie "The Lion" Smith (He was one of his students)
15:04 & 52:30: Jean Bach about Willie "The Lion" Smith (she's the producer of a "Great Day in Harlem")
15:25 / 41:16 / 46:37 & 51:42: Mike Lipskin about Willie "The Lion" Smith (He was one of his students)
28:57: Billy Taylor about inspiration of Stride Willie's Techniques
Music timestamps down below 👇🏽:
00:35 & 12:13: James P. Johnson - Carolina Shout
Synthesia video: https://youtu.be/ggWLFlIE6W0
02:44: Willie "The Lion Smith" - St. Louis Blues
03:29: Willie "The Lion" Smith - Sneakaway
04:20: Willie "The Lion" Smith - Rippling Waters
Synthesia video: https://youtu.be/4akckvg2aus
05:25 & 36:00 & 54:50: Willie "The Lion" Smith - Echoes of Spring
Synthesia video: https://youtu.be/w7Xb61g0MXA
06:31:
07:08:
07:43:
08:12: Jimmy Blythe - Regal Stomp a.k.a. Bow To Your Papa
09:04: Willie "The Lion" Smith - Naga Bustle
10:23: Willie "The Lion" Smith - Don't You Hit That Lady Dressed In Green
11:38: Charles Luckey Roberts - Pork and Beans
13:53 - Jelly Roll Morton - The Pearls
Synthesia video: https://youtu.be/Xdpn-BTdARI
16:12: Jelly Roll Morton - Shreveport Stomp
Synthesia video: https://youtu.be/cxyw-59kJlc
17:04: Eubie Blake - Charleston Rag
Synthesia video: https://youtu.be/mtZCVU8a_LE
17:48: Willie "The Lion Smith" - Maple Leaf Rag
19:14: Dick Hyman - Maple Leaf Rag
26:06: Willie "The Lion" Smith - Harlem Joys
26:50: Eubie Blake - I'm Just Wild About Harry
Synthesia video: https://youtu.be/VvJCUSkOITg
28:02: Willie "The Lion" Smith - Squeeze Me
30:46: Willie "The Lion" Smith - Passionette
Synthesia video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRi4obJinjQ
31:29: Willie "The Lion" Smith - There's Gonna Be a Devil To Play
32:37: Willie "The Lion" Smith - Fingerbuster
Synthesia video: https://youtu.be/bfuO_1udWtk
34:34: Jelly Roll Morton - Fingerbreaker
Synthesia video: https://youtu.be/KoNa_6I4W4Y
37:22 & 40:08: Willie "The Lion" Smith - Morning Air
Synthesia video: https://youtu.be/5SsdmXesE_M
38:08: Willie "The Lion" Smith - Polonaise
38:29: Willie "The Lion" Smith - Fading Stars
Synthesia video: https://youtu.be/zWoxBvSRlu8
39:00: Willie "The Lion" Smith - Rippling Waters
Synthesia video: https://youtu.be/rVpEudtYyzs
41:16: Willie "The Lion" Smith - Contrary Motion
41:56: Willie "The Lion" Smith - Concentratin'
42:35: Willie "The Lion" Smith - Tea For Two
Synthesia video: https://youtu.be/to4jG6FfHkU
47:22: Willie "The Lion" Smith - Zig Zag
52:26: Willie "The Lion" Smith -
@jasonbeard4713
In late March of 1969, BOTH Dr. Taylor and Mr. Smith appeared as very special guests during Jazz Week on Captain Kangaroo. A few color photos and a 20 minute color tape segment exists in, I believe, UCLA. What a shame that the tape couldn't have been obtained for this documentary. Was it even considered for use?
@itsRemco
That would be a question for Marc Fields, the guy who directed this documentary
@jasonbeard4713
@@itsRemco If I only had his contact information.
@itsRemco
@@jasonbeard4713 I actually looked for some info as well and found this email: l_marc_fields@emerson.edu
He actually responds!
@jasonbeard4713
@@itsRemco Thank you. I will contact him.
@itsRemco
@@jasonbeard4713 Heard anything back?
@Clipper_Dames
There's the old saying that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, but in the case of The Lion I think it's fair to say that the omission of his works from repertoires because they are too difficult for most to replicate, is much more flattering.
@itsRemco
It's really fascinating that so many jazz pianists have their unique style and techniques
If I compare my Willie The Lion Smith uploads to Fats Waller they have significantly lesser views. I always wonder why
@robertmoye7565
Great documentary.
@FWBull66
Willie “The Lion” Smith send in an apartment building 300 E. 151st St.,. Between eighth Avenue and Bradhurst Avenue. I live at 304. As a child are used to pick up uncle Willie’s Groceries at the Dunbar and his bottle of scotch at the bar on the corner of 150th St. and eighth Avenue. I would deliver them to his six floor apartment. And he would offer me a silver coin I would waive it off. And point to the piano and say tickle the ivories for me uncle Willie.