Willie "the lion" Smith
With his derby and cigar, along with his command of counterpoint and swing, Willie "The Lion" Smith was one of the jazz world's outsized characters. Bravery during World War I earned him his nickname; friendship and mutual admiration led to Duke Ellington's "Portrait Of The Lion" and Smith's own "Portrait Of Duke." William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholoff was born in Goshen, N.Y., on Nov. 25, 1897.

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