Search - Willie Smith :: Memoirs

And in this corner, at the upright pianola--that's right folks, the crusty, genial Havana-chomping octogenarian in the derby--we have Willie "The Lion" Smith, that rollicking stride-piano master, savvy showman, and raconteur par excellence. Smith will be your genial guide through the gin-joints and hell-pits of Depression-era Harlem, playing for you his "up-front 'n' poisonal" survey of the hits and hangouts of America's green jazz years, well-peppered with lively "foist-poison" stories and a scrapbook of memories. Smith is one of the inventors of jazz--a peer of Eubie Blake and mentor of Duke Ellington--and he scales the heights of piano wizardry. He awards high accolades in mimicking the wealth of styles of his day--hell, he knew them all and invented a few styles himself! James P. Johnson, Fats, Satchmo, Blake, Irving Berlin, and other Tin Pan Alley greats all receive vivid cameos in Smith's survey. Of course, Smith plays them his way, giving Johnson's "Porter's Love Song to a Chambermaid" his own patented cascading waterfalls of tinkling arpeggios. The delightful chatter, patter, music lessons, philosophy, sepia tints of vaudeville players, hot rags, and sweet romancers will edify and amuse you. His name-dropping--Lena Horne's dad, Sammy Davis's dad and uncle--will open your eyes to the complex history and sociology of early showbiz. His Yiddish folk songs, snippets of Chopin and tango, tale of a "cutting" contest with Fats Waller, and a slaphappy, wacky "Nagasaki" will leave you rolling in the aisles. --Fred Bouchard