Results for "Willie "The Lion" Smith"
About Willie "The Lion" Smith
Instrument: Piano
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Willie "The Lion" Smith
Born:
With his derby and cigar, along with his command of counterpoint and swing, Willie "The Lion" Smith was one of the jazz world's outsized characters. Bravery during World War I earned him his nickname; friendship and mutual admiration led to Duke Ellington's "Portrait of The Lion" and Smith's own "Portrait of Duke." William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholoff was born in Goshen, N.Y., on Nov. 25, 1897. Growing up in Newark, he began playing at age 6, drawn to the piano by his mother's playing in church. His father's Jewish ancestry later led to work as a cantor, he claimed, during the '40s. In 1916, Willie enlisted in the Army where he became the drum major for his unit
Ghost Herd, The Lion + New Releases
by David Brown
This week, recordings associated with bandleader Woody Herman (Ralph Bures, Ella Fitzgerald, Anita O'Day, Jimmy Giuffre) but not playing any Herman (a ghost set). Then, Emmet Cohen's Uptown in Orbit and his influences—Ellington, Monk, Willy “The Lion" Smith. We've got new releases from Eri Yamamoto, Patricia Brennan & Dezron Douglas and a whole lot more! Travel ...
Take Five with Markos Chaidemenos
by AAJ Staff
Meet Markos ChaidemenosMarkos Chaidemenos is a jazz musician who discovered his love for piano at the age of 16 (2005) and his passion for jazz at the age of 22. Although Markos earned his first bachelor at Informatics & Telecommunications in National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, he never worked in the field. After he mastered ...
Up In Harlem - Stride (1921 - 1939)
by Russell Perry
In the last hour, we listened to several of the bands associated with New York, with an emphasis on the new large ensemble form, the jazz orchestra. In this hour we'll stick with New York, but focus in on the piano music of Harlem—"Stride." We are joined in this hour by Art Wheeler, pianist, producer, composer ...
African-American Music: A retrospective at Jazz at Lincoln Center
by Nick Catalano
One of Jazz at Lincoln Center's most thoughtful concert ideas in recent memory came to life at the Appel Room on March 2, 2018. Dubbed “Rags, Strides & Habaneras" the intimate program managed to survey a host of strategic forms from origins in West Africa that shaped the art of music in the Americas.
Fats Waller by Maurice Waller & Anthony Calabrese
by C. Michael Bailey
Fats Waller Maurice Waller and Anthony Calabrese 256 Pages ISBN: # 978-1-5179-0391-6 University of Minnesota Press2017/1977 With regards to the jazz piano, who came before Art Tatum, Bud Powell, and Bill Evans. Well, it was James P. Johnson, Willie “The Lion" Smith and Thomas Fats Waller. The latter of ...
Peter Saltzman: Blues, Preludes and Feuds
by Geannine Reid
Solo piano albums have the special place in the cannon of improvised music as a mode of presentation and holds an honored place in jazz; the history could even be traced to music predating the origins of the genre. In mechanical terms, it has not changed, one musical artist sitting at the piano for well over ...
Bill Charlap Trio at Tilles Center for the Performing Arts
by Dan Bilawsky
Bill Charlap Trio Tilles Center for the Performing Arts Jazz on Stage with Matt Wilson Brookville, NY November 8, 2015 To witness pianist Bill Charlap in action is to receive an education, so who better than the newly-appointed Director of Jazz Studies at William Paterson University to help kick ...
A Great Day in Harlem: The Spirit Lives - 50 Years On
by Ian Patterson
This encore presentation from January 2009 celebrates Jean Bach, director of A Great Day in Harlem. Ms. Bach died on May 27th at her home in Manhattan. She was 94.It is probably the most celebrated ensemble jazz portrait of all time. Fifty-seven of the greatest jazz musicians gathered together on the steps of a ...
Ehud Asherie with Harry Allen: Lower East Side
by Dan Bilawsky
In this day and age, when shock-and-awe maneuvers and new-thing sounds tend to get all the plaudits and press in jazz, it says a lot when a throwback duo date is widely admired by critics and fans alike. Such was the case with pianist Ehud Asherie's Upper West Side (Posi-Tone, 2012), which brought him into contact ...
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