[Dixielandjazz] Big bands

[Bill Gunter]

Hi Anton,

You done writ:

>BUT, now we get really picky!  :-)

>The  OED reports the first useage in print as the Melody Maker magazine for
>February 1926. Yes, 1926.

Melody Maker, Feb. 1926 had to be one of the very first issues published in 
England. Listmates Tony Davis and Judy Eames, in Oxfordshire, U.K., have 
those early editions in a bound collection.

Tony, can you scour the February 1926 issue and find the context for the 
"Big Band" usage to which Anton refers? I recall browsing those early 
editions while at your place. Were they actually published that early 
(1926)?  I seem to remember the first editions around '27 or '28.

Anyway, I would imagine R. Hood and his band of Merry Men saying to the 
Sheriff of Nottingham, "Oh yes, I have a really Big Band, right Big John?" 
And that was back in the days of the crusades!!

Maybe it even goes back to the old testament with all the trumpets sounding 
etc. . . .

But the usage of the term to describe the orchestas of Miller, James, the 
Dorsey Brothers, etc. didn't come into practice until after the war (WW11, 
that is).

Respectfully submitted,

Bill "The Boondockers Big Band" Gunter
jazzboard at hotmail.com

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