1966 Willie "The Lion" Smith

Willie "The Lion" Smith bei den Berliner Jazztagen 1966 spielt und singt "ain´t misbehaving" und "st. louis blues"

[@melaniek1984]

it kind of kills me that there aren't more people in the audience!!!!!

[@johnwhitehead3360]

Privileged to see him in London and sit next to the piano!

[@Aaron-md2eo]

Man that must've been a treat. I wish I could have met him or other cats from that era.

[@renaudpatigny]

The Lion ..... a stride piano legend

[@marcelverweij2415]

Just came across a photo of my fathers who was at Central Plaza club in 1949 with The Lion playing with James P Johnson...This is the first clip I have seen of The Lion. How amazing would it have been to be at that club!!

[@timmclaughlin8420]

The Lion was the man. Its so great that this performance has been preserved and shared. And fluent in Yiddish to boot!

[@bennyjazzful]

WHAT A WONDERFUL PERFORMER; A GREAT PERSONALITY & SOME INCREDIBLE PLAYING WELL DONE

[@jazzfanjohn]

Fabulous. Love how he rolls the r's! A Steinway too!

[@bluv6]

William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholoff "The Lion" Smith. One of Duke Ellington's major influences, he was one of the last of the New York-style 1920s piano "professors" still playing by the time this film was made. And he was still playing and performing quite wonderfully, as the video shows.

[@EliotKrupa]

i love how he sing with a huge cigar in his mouth.

[@sydbarret7765]

real man

[@TheQuantum09]

I can't believe that people were playing chords this COMPLEX back in the 60s. Truly amazing. I think that I cherish the key of E flat simply because it's the first key that I learned to play in.

[@andrewbarrett1537]

I like the exciting syncopation he sings on "St. Louis Blues". Really cool!

[@alexisortegamusic]

real talent, real artist

[@michelbignault7221]

Its à VERY. Gréât pianist !!!

[@christiandueblin2401]

Many thanks for that film!! Absolutely amazing. He was a friend of the Swiss Stride piano legend Henri Chaix!

[@JHENDRIXROCS]

Too bad we don't have anyone playing like The Lion today. It's a treat to watch him play on film!

[@renaudpatigny]

No sir I dont agree with you, today we have Stephanie Trick, she can play wonderfully the music of Willie the Lion Smith ; look at this : kzbin.info/www/bejne/rp2UiKV_gNd9eLc

[@JHENDRIXROCS]

Swing Oasis Never heard of her. Will have to check her out.

[@JHENDRIXROCS]

Swing Oasis Wow! She is an excellent stride player! Does she sing too!? Thank you for turning me on to her!

[@renaudpatigny]

@@JHENDRIXROCS you are welcome ; no she doesn't sing but she's in my opinion the best stride piano player in the world nowadays ; I'll hire her for a tribute to Erroll Garner next year in Brussels

[@JHENDRIXROCS]

Swing Oasis That’s great! Hopefully she will get more publicity in the future as she is a phenomenal player! Again, thank you for bringing her to my attention!

[@jazzlars7122]

My favourite Stride-Piano player.

[@pukulu]

great playing

[@drbekken]

Let's face the hard facts. Some musicians are better than others. The Lion was - and remains - one of the giants. Yeah.

[@JHENDRIXROCS]

Thanks for informing me about another stride pianist!

[@CarlosEPinto]

Superb!

[@DAVO1984FI]

William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholoff "The Lion" Smith

[@F0nkyNinja]

"Please believe, folks"

[@MightyAlz]

@TheQuantum09 60's? This guy was playing this stuff in the 1910's!

[@pianolancelot9006]

it kind of kills me that there aren't more people like Melanie K!!!!!

[@TheQuantum09]

@MightyAlz Wow. I REALLY need to dig into the world of Jazz a bit more.

[@goedeck1]

LOL when he says "achte."

[@herminestover]

makes me even prouder to be a Yid!

[@esmeephillips5888]

The Lion was ahead of Sammy Davis in that respect😏.

[@busessuck1]

@TheSorrowedMan it's a natural side effect of actually makin an effort to sound good

[@d.e.b.b5788]

I"m not knowledgeable enough to be able to tell one good piano player from another once you get to this level of talent. All I know is that this sounds good, and I want to hear more. As old as I am, I never got to hear any of the old timers play live (wait; dad took me to hear Hubie Blake once, but I was too young to appreciate what I was hearing). Right now I'm just glad I get to listen to Dick Hyman. There's a young lady named Stephanie Trick who plays nice, too.

[@stevenfox9695]

+D.E.B. B Dick Hymen is really great! Billy Taylor passed a few years ago, but he visited my high school a few years back and he's the reason I started playing Jazz. :)

[@pianiplunker1981]

That's a funny comparison. Like Sammy Davis Smith was a black Jew.

[@TheSorrowedMan]

sweaty man

[@pop9900]

maybe he can try singing it without the cigar..that aside, this is brilliant

[@nealhurwitz6340]

nice Jewish guy