Remembering Willie ‘The Lion’ Smith, one of jazz’s first Jewish stars
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The Jewish News of Northern California
Gilbert, Andrew
Abstract
An article about Willie Smith, the iconic African American jazz musician, the first jazz musician to claim a Jewish identity. When he was 3 years old, his mother married a man of Jewish heritage. In his 1964 autobiography, "Music on My Mind," he states that he is "Jewish partly by origin and partly by association. As it turned out I favored the Jewish religion all my life and at one time served as a Hebrew cantor in a Harlem congregation.” His mother took in washing and Smith, as a child, delivered clean laundry to a wealthy Jewish family. He was taken by the chanting he heard during the children's Hebrew lessons, and he ended up becoming a bar mitzvah at the age of 13. The article also includes a link to a YouTube video of Smith performing. Click on the link to read the article.
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Smith, Willie, Jazz Musicians, Music, United States