William McLeish Smith (November 25, 1910 – March 7, 1967)[1] was an American saxophonist and one of the majoralto saxophone players of theswing era. He also played clarinet and sang.
In 1929, Smith became an alto saxophonist forJimmie Lunceford's band, becoming one of the main stars in the group.[3] In 1940, he led his own quintet as a side project.[4] His success with Lunceford had lost its charms by 1942, as he now wanted more pay and less travel.[3] Smith moved to theCharlie Spivak orchestra for a year, and was in theUnited States Navy for another year.[3] He then switched toHarry James's orchestra, where he made more money, and stayed with him for seven years.[3] After that he worked withDuke Ellington andBilly May.[3] He was also part of the Gene Krupa Trio, and can be heard on the 1952 liveVerve album,The Drum Battle, part of the Jazz at the Philharmonic series (the 'battle' was withBuddy Rich). In 1954, he returned to Harry James's band.[3]
Jazz criticJohn S. Wilson described Smith as "one of the triumvirate of great jazz alto saxophonists before Charlie Parker arrived. The other two wereJohnny Hodges, who had a fat, luscious tone, andBenny 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."[5]
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