Willie Smith

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."

As sideman

With Louis Bellson

• Journey Into Love (Norgran, 1954)
• Skin Deep (Norgran, 1955)
• Drumorama! (Verve, 1957)
• Music, Romance and Especially Love (Verve, 1957)

With Nat King Cole

• After Midnight (Capitol, 1956)
• The Piano Style of Nat King Cole (Capitol, 1956)
• Nat King Cole and Lester Young (Crown, 1964)

With Harry James

• Harry James in Hi-fi (Capitol, 1955)
• Jazz Session (Columbia, 1955)
• Juke Box Jamboree (Columbia, 1955)
• More Harry James in Hi-fi (Capitol, 1956)
• Wild About Harry! (Capitol, 1957)
• The New James (Capitol, 1958)
• Harry's Choice! (Capitol, 1958)
• Harry James and His New Swingin' Band (MGM, 1959)
• Harry James...Today! (MGM, 1960)
• The Spectacular Sound of Harry James (MGM, 1961)
• Harry James Plays Neal Hefti (MGM, 1961)
• Requests On-the-Road (MGM, 1962)
• Double Dixie (MGM, 1963)
• Harry James and His Orchestra 1948–49 (1969)

With Gene Krupa

• The Exciting Gene Krupa (Clef, 1953)
• Drum Boogie (Clef, 1956)
• The Drum Battle (Verve, 1960)

With others

• Duke Ellington, Seattle Concert (RCA Victor, 1952)
• Stan Getz, Groovin' High (Modern, 1956)
• Dizzy Gillespie, Jazz Recital (Norgran, 1955)
• Lionel Hampton, With the Just Jazz All-Stars (GNP, 1955)
• Billie Holiday, Lady Sings the Blues (Cleft, 1956)
• Barney Kessel, Modern Jazz Performances from Bizet's Opera Carmen (Contemporary, 1959)
• Jimmie Lunceford, Lunceford Special (Columbia, 1967)
• Jimmie Lunceford, Stomp It Off (GRP, 1992)
• Billy May, Today! (Capitol, 1966)
• Rose Murphy, Not Cha-Cha but Chi-Chi (Verve, 1957)
• Red Norvo, Red Plays the Blues (RCA Victor, 1958)
• Andre Previn, Previn at Sunset (Polydor, 1972)
• Googie René, Romesville (Class, 1959)
• Kay Starr, Portrait of a Starr (Sunset, 1966)
• Charlie Barnet Charlie Barnet Big Band -1967 (Vault, 1966)