Willie Smith (alto saxophonist)

William McLeish Smith (November 25, 1910 – March 7, 1967) was an American saxophonist and one of the major alto saxophone players of the swing era.

He also played clarinet and sang.

Smith was born in Charleston, South Carolina, United States, and raised in Charleston and attended Avery Institute.

His first instrument was clarinet, and his education was in chemistry.

He received his chemistry degree from Fisk University, an HBCU.

In 1929, Smith became an alto saxophonist for Jimmie Lunceford's band, becoming one of the main stars in the group.

In 1940, he led his own quintet as a side project.

His success with Lunceford had lost its charms by 1942, as he now wanted more pay and less travel.

Smith moved to the Charlie Spivak orchestra for a year, and was in the United States Navy for another year.

He then switched to Harry James's orchestra, where he made more money, and stayed with him for seven years.

After that he worked with Duke Ellington and Billy May.

He was also part of the Gene Krupa Trio, and can be heard on the 1952 live Verve album, The Drum Battle, part of the Jazz at the Philharmonic series (the 'battle' was with Buddy Rich).

In 1954, he returned to Harry James's band.

Smith died of cancer on March 7, 1967, in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 56.

Jazz critic John S. Wilson described Smith as "one of the triumvirate of great jazz alto saxophonists before Charlie Parker arrived. The other two were Johnny Hodges, who had a fat, luscious tone, and Benny Carter, a model of clean, pure-toned playing. Stylistically, Smith fell between Carter and Hodges for he combined some of Carter's clarity and singing directness with a variant of Hodges' gut sound."

With Louis Bellson

With Nat King Cole

With Harry James

With Gene Krupa

With others