[Dixielandjazz] Jazz Etymology

Paul Edgerton paul.edgerton at gmail.com
Wed Mar 25 23:18:26 PDT 2009


Did you mean <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz_(word)>  ??

On Wed, Mar 25, 2009 at 9:15 PM, Hal Vickery <hvickery_80 at msn.com> wrote:
> I'm not sure what's going on here, but I'll try this one more time.  The link to that Wikipedia article is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz_(word<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz_(word>).  If it doesn't go through right this time, I give up.
>
> Hal Vickery
>
> ----- Original Message -----
>  From: Hal Vickery<mailto:hvickery_80 at msn.com>
>  To: Hal Vickery<mailto:hvickery_80 at msn.com>
>  Cc: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List<mailto:dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
>  Sent: Wednesday, March 25, 2009 10:37 PM
>  Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Jazz Etymology
>
>
>  Let's try again:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz_(word<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz_(word<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz_(word%3Chttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz_(word>>)
>
>  More got put into the link than was supposed to for some reason.
>
>  Hal Vickery
>    ----- Original Message -----
>    From: Brian Harvey<mailto:brer.rabbit at tiscali.co.uk<mailto:brer.rabbit at tiscali.co.uk>>
>    To: Hal Vickery<mailto:hvickery_80 at msn.com<mailto:hvickery_80 at msn.com>>
>    Sent: Wednesday, March 25, 2009 3:58 PM
>    Subject: RE: [Dixielandjazz] Jazz Etymology
>
>
>    Sadly that Wikipedia page doesn't come up.Brian
>
>    -----Original Message-----
>    From: dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com<mailto:dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com<mailto:dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com%3Cmailto:dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com>>
>    [mailto:dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com]On Behalf Of Hal Vickery
>    Sent: 25 March 2009 20:10
>    To: brer.rabbit at tiscali.co.uk<mailto:brer.rabbit at tiscali.co.uk<mailto:brer.rabbit at tiscali.co.uk%3Cmailto:brer.rabbit at tiscali.co.uk>>
>    Cc: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List
>    Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Jazz Etymology
>
>
>    As Sportin' Life might say, "It ain't necessarily so," at least if Wikipedia
>    is to be believed (which is often problematic):
>    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz_(word<about:blank<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz_(word%3Cabout:blank<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz_(word%3Cabout:blank%3Chttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz_(word%3Cabout:blank>>>)
>      ----- Original Message -----
>      From: Stephen G Barbone<mailto:barbonestreet at earthlink.net<mailto:barbonestreet at earthlink.net<mailto:barbonestreet at earthlink.net%3Cmailto:barbonestreet at earthlink.net>>>
>      To: Hal Vickery<mailto:hvickery_80 at msn.com<mailto:hvickery_80 at msn.com<mailto:hvickery_80 at msn.com%3Cmailto:hvickery_80 at msn.com>>>
>      Cc: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List<mailto:dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com<mailto:dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com<mailto:dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com%3Cmailto:dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>>>
>      Sent: Wednesday, March 25, 2009 2:49 PM
>      Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Jazz Etymology
>
>
>      For those interested in the more earthy origins of  the word "jazz"
>      and other words to describe OKOM, see below; Sourced at:
>    http://www.apassion4jazz.net/etymology.html<http://www.apassion4jazz.net/ety<http://www.apassion4jazz.net/etymology.html%3Chttp://www.apassion4jazz.net/ety<http://www.apassion4jazz.net/etymology.html%3Chttp://www.apassion4jazz.net/ety%3Chttp://www.apassion4jazz.net/etymology.html%3Chttp://www.apassion4jazz.net/ety>>
>    mology.html>
>
>      This is why those of us who play for the kids should use the word
>      "jazz" in our descriptions of the music we play, and why my band uses
>      a little bawdy humor to describe what Jazz is.
>
>      Pornography morphing into musical art? Who would have thought that?
>      <grin>
>
>      Cheers,
>      Steve Barbone
>      http://www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband<http://www.myspace.com/barbon<http://www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband%3Chttp://www.myspace.com/barbon<http://www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband%3Chttp://www.myspace.com/barbon%3Chttp://www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband%3Chttp://www.myspace.com/barbon>>
>    estreetjazzband>
>
>      Etymology of Jazz
>      JAS,  JASS,  JAZ,  JASCZ  or just plain  JAZZ
>      "If the truth was really known about the origins of Jazz, it would
>      certainly never be mentioned in polite society."
>
>      The expression arose sometime during the later nineteenth century in
>      the better brothels of New Orleans, which provided music and dancing
>      as well as sex. The original Jazz band, according to Herbert Asbury's
>      The Latin Quarter (1938), was the 'Spasm Band' made up of seven boys,
>      aged twelve to fifteen, who first appeared in New Orleans about 1895.
>      They advertised themselves as the "Razzy Dazzy Spasm Band."
>      In c.1900 (see Jazz Timeline) another band adopted the same billing
>      for an appearance at the Haymarket dance hall, it is said the 'Spasms'
>      loaded their pockets with rocks and dropped by to protest the
>      infringement. This prompted the owner of the hall to repaint his
>      advertising placards to read: "Razzy Dazzy Jazzy Band!" If the
>      memories of Asbury's sources were correct (he talked to two surviving
>      members of the 'Spasms') this represents the word's earliest-known
>      appearance in print.
>      'Jazz' is not a bad word now, but almost certainly is of extremely low
>      origin, referring to copulation before it was applied to music,
>      dancing, and nonsense (i.e., all that Jazz). The vulgar word was in
>      general currency in dance halls thirty years or more ago" (Clay Smith,
>      Etude 9/24). "According to Raven I. McDavid Sr. of Greenville, S.C.,
>      the 1919 announcement of the first 'Jazz band' to play in Columbia,
>      where he was then serving in the state legislature, inspired feelings
>      of terror among the local Baptists such as what might have been
>      aroused by a personal appearance of Yahweh. Until that time 'Jazz' had
>      never been heard in the Palmetto States except as a verb meaning to
>      copulate" (H. L. Mencken, The American Language Raven I. McDavid Jr.
>      1963). "She never stepped out of line once in all the years we been
>      teamed up. I can't sell her on jazzing the chump now" (William Lindsay
>      Gresham, Nightmare Alley 1946).
>      'Jazz' probably comes from a Creole or perhaps African word, but exact
>      connections have not been proven. The presumed sexual origin is quite
>      in accord with the development of many other related words, most
>      notably:
>      'boogie-woogie' was used in the nineteenth century by blacks in the
>      American South to refer to secondary syphilis.
>      'gig' the musician's engagement, probably derives immediately from the
>      'gig' that is a dance or party, but 'gig' and 'gigi' (or 'giggy') also
>      are old slang terms for the vulva; the first has been dated to the
>      seventeenth century.
>      'jelly roll' is black slang from the nineteenth century for the vulva,
>      with various related meanings, i.e. sexual intercourse, a loving
>      woman, a man obsessed with finding same. "What you want?" she asked
>      softly. "Jelly roll?'" (Thomas Wolfe, Look Homeward Angel 1929). The
>      term probably derives from 'jelly' meaning semen: "Give her cold jelly
>      to take up her belly, And once a day swinge her again" (John Fletcher,
>      The Begger's Bush 1622). Related expressions include 'jelly bag,'
>      referring both to the scrotum and the female genitals; 'jerk [one's]
>      jelly,' to masturbate; and 'jelly,' a good-looking woman. 'Jelly roll'
>      appears in many blues songs, such as "I Ain't Gonna Give Nobody None
>      o' My Jelly Roll," "Nobody in Town Can Bake a Jelly Roll Like Mine,"
>      and "Jelly Roll Blues," the last by Ferdinand Joseph La Menthe "Jelly
>      Roll" Morton (1885-1941).
>      'juke' The modern 'jukebox' was preceded by 'juke house' which was a
>      brothel to Southern blacks; the basic term coming from a Gullah word
>      meaning disorderly or wicked.
>      'swing' The now archaic 'swinge' was used for many years as a synonym
>      for copulation ('swive' according to the OED's discreet definition).
>      Note the quote from 1622 in 'jelly roll' above. Or as John Dryden put
>      it: "And that baggage, Beatrix, how I would swinge her if I
>      could" (Enemy's Love 1668). The oldest meaning of both 'swinge' and
>      'swing' deal with beating, striking and whipping (i.e., the swing of a
>      weapon predates the back and forth swaying of a swing or the rhythmic
>      swing of music). For reasons that are not hard to guess, the
>      conjunction of violent and sexual senses within the same word is very
>      common.
>      In a more modern sense, Swing has been used describing 'wife-swapping'
>      and related activities involving one or more partners of either sex.
>      It has been so used from about 1964 or earlier, depending on the
>      interpretation one gives to Frank Sinatra's 1956 record album Songs
>      for Swinging Lovers.
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