Willie Smith Collection
name: label: Composer
content: Smith, Willie, 1910-1967 (musician)
label: Names
content: Harry James Orchestra
label: Names
content: Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra
label: Names
content: Ellington, Duke, 1899-1974
label: Names
content: James, Harry, 1916-
label: Names
content: Lunceford, Jimmie
topic: label: Topic
content: Music -- 20th century
label: Topic
content: Jazz musicians -- United States
label: Topic
content: Jazz
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Collection donated by Fischella Smith, August 14, 1990.
creator: label: Composer
content: Smith, Willie, 1910-1967 (musician)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Willie Smith Collection
abstract: label: Summary
content: Collection documents Willie Smith's career as a musician and arranger between 1945 and 1958.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Willie Smith, aleading alto saxophonist and arranger of the swing period, was born in Charkeston, South Carolina on November 25, 1910 and died in Los Angeles on March 7, 1967. He attended Nashville Tennessee's Fisk University during the 1920s and played with the Jimmy Lunceford Orchestra between 1929 and 1942. After a brief period performing with Charlie Spivak's band between 1942 and 1943, Smith began his tenure with the Harry James Orchestra in 1944. Hew remained with the Harry James Orchestra until 1964 with brief interruptions between 1951 and 1953 performing with the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Jazz at the Philharmonic, and leading several of his own small ensembles in Los Angeles. In addition to Smith's reputation as a section leader and soloist, he is best known for his arrangmenets of Sophisticated Lady and Rose Rooom for the Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 0.25 Cubic feet (2 boxes)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1945-1987
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0382
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Sheet music
label: Type
content: Programs
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Correspondence
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged into three series. 

Series 1: Music Manuscripts, 1945-1947

Series 2: Photographs, 1938-1958

Series 3: Ephemera, 1945-1987
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Processed by Archives Center staff.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sheet music -- Manuscripts -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Programs -- 1940-1990
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Correspondence -- 1940-2000
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The Willia Smith Collection consits of correspondence, event programs, a periodical entitled Musikkunde in beispielen, thirty-siz black and white photograph, and nine music arrangements documenting Smith's career as a musician and arranger between 1945 and 1958.