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Willie "the Lion" Smith: Classic stride!
Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2004 6:53 pm
by Yakov
Picked up this one at the used sale I mentioned in another thread...
WHAT a CD! Willie "the Lion" Smith (piano) was Fats Waller's teacher back in the day, so you should love this stuff if you love Fats! You can really hear lots of ideas that played into Fats' style. The recordings themselves on this disc are just amazing. You may not have heard of all of the sidemen -- Buster Bailey (reeds), Jimmy Harrison (tb), Herschel Brassfield (cl), Edgar Samson (as,vn), Frank Newton (tp)... but believe me these folks can JAM. Most of the tracks here are by
Willie Smith (The Lion) And His Cubs. There's only one piano solo, the rest of the tracks are by solid swinging 6-9 piece bands. The sound quality, even on the 1924 stuff, is lovely. Solid sender! More exclamation points!!!
Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2004 12:28 am
by AlekseyKosygin
Rad thread! We just did a Willie "The Lion" Smith night for his birthday in November at Rhythm and Bugs in New Jersey (he grew up in New Jersey along with most of the great stride pianists) where we showed a documentary on him, don't forget he was also a mentor to Ellington as well, you can hear his influences on a lot of Ellington's work (just listen to Black Beauty)...
This is the best CD on him only because John R.T. Davies had a hand in it...
http://www.timelessjazz.com/shop/produc ... cts_id=296
"What's wrong with your left hand, are you a cripple?" - The Lion
Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2004 10:02 am
by falty411
Totally awesome CD. I have had it for a while and really like it and the other stuff i have by him.
Whats really fun is to buy the short Double Film called Jazz Dance\AfterHours. It has great dancing by Al Minns and Leon James, plus great jam sessions one that includes Willie The Lion! He can play man.
Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2004 10:50 am
by Swifty
falty411 wrote:Totally awesome CD. I have had it for a while and really like it and the other stuff i have by him.
Whats really fun is to buy the short Double Film called Jazz Dance\AfterHours. It has great dancing by Al Minns and Leon James, plus great jam sessions one that includes Willie The Lion! He can play man.
Where is that for sale?
Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2004 11:23 am
by mousethief
www.swingdanceshop.com
It is a great piece.
Kalman