[Dixielandjazz] Jazz - the word

[Dr. luis daniel flores]

jazz
Origin: 1913
The jazziest American contribution to the vocabulary of English is jazz
itself. From obscure origins among African Americans in New Orleans a century
ago, the music and the word we use for it have become familiar the world over.
Jazz has been called "the most significant form of musical expression of
American black culture and America's outstanding contribution to the art of
music," blending elements of African music, work songs, hymns, dances,
marches, and Creole music, and developing through the blues and ragtime into a
new syncopated improvisational style. Jazz flourished in New Orleans before
World War I, in Chicago in the 1920s, and in New York and throughout the
country after that. White performers learned it from African Americans and
added to the variety of jazz styles.
The music hardly needs an introduction. But what about the word?
Unfortunately, its beginnings are especially obscure. It may have come from an
African word, or from a performer's name, among other possibilities. But
nobody would have dared include jazz in a respectable book or article a
century ago because it was decidedly obscene, referring to sexual activity.
Gradually, though, jazz came to mean any vigorous, enthusiastic activity, and
eventually it became reputable enough to mention.
Curiously, the earliest evidence of jazz so far discovered is in a San
Francisco newspaper of 1913, referring to a baseball team back from spring
training "full of the old 'jazz.'" As the story goes, the name was next used
to advertise a local dance band as "the jazziest tune tooters in all the
Valley of the Moon." It appears that bandleader Bert Kelly then brought the
word to Chicago in 1914. Meanwhile, the music that we now know as jazz had
long been developing in New Orleans. It was known as ragtime (1897) until jazz
arrived and took over in 1917. From then on, jazz has jazzed up our lives.





Dr. Luis Daniel Flores FRCOG
www.jazzysentimientos.com.ar
domingos/Sundays 9:30/12:30 GMT