[Dixielandjazz] Alligator Crawl

[Don Kirkman]

On Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:09:16 -0400, Stephen G Barbone wrote:

>"Alligator"  -  Originally a slang term for musician. Very early in  
>jazz history, musicians referred to themselves as "alligators". Now it  
>simply refers to any swing devotee. (abbrev. Gator or Gate)  - Source http://nfo.net/usa/slang.html

Thus neatly explaining that other riddle, the meaning of "See you
later, alligator."  And Jerry Colonna's "Greetings, Gates!"  :-)

>Thus relating Alligator Crawl to Pub Crawl (to visit as many pubs as  
>possible in a night) it could mean to visit or hear as many jazz  
>musicians as possible in one night.
>
>Or it could indeed be a dance since "crawl" means, among other things,  
>to creep slowly on all fours, or slither, wriggle or writhe.
>
>Or it could mean some combination of jazz musicians and dancers.
>
>Or?
>
>Cheers,
>Steve Barbone
>www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband
-- 
Don Kirkman
donsno2 at charter.net