[Dixielandjazz] Origin of the word-- jazz-- Mike Vax

domitype domitype at gmail.com
Sat Sep 6 23:36:15 PDT 2014


If you can believe the San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation, the word "Jass" was a baseball term first coined in the early 1900s that was later applied to "Hot Music" and that association later moved to New Orleans and beyond. This may or may not be a true fact, but read it here: 

http://www.sftradjazz.org/Cricket/FC31_Spring_2006.pdf


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Dave Richoux

> On Sep 6, 2014, at 4:08 PM, "Norman Vickers" <NVickers1 at cox.net> wrote:
> 
> To:  Musicians and Jazzfans list  & DJML
> 
> From: Norman Vickers, Jazz Society of Pensacola
> 
> 
> 
> Mike Vax-( everybody on this list   should know who he is-if you don't, then
> look It up) writes about the possible origin of the word "jazz."
> 
> 
> 
> Norman's comments below:
> 
> 
> 
> From: vaxtrpts at aol.com [mailto:vaxtrpts at aol.com] 
> Sent: Saturday, September 06, 2014 5:08 PM
> To: NVickers1 at cox.net
> Subject: Re: : Buddy Bolden Day, courtesy of Bob Cook
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know if you have ever heard this story, but it was told to me by
> more than one of the "older musicians" when I lived in New Orleans back in
> the 70's, who were there pretty much towards the beginning.
> There was a classical music reviewer for the Times-Piccayune Newspaper who
> hated the music of Buddy Bolden.  At that time, there was no real name for
> the music.  This reviewer said that "Buddy Bolden's music sounds like the
> braying of a Jack Ass."  The musicians took that and made a contraction of
> it and started calling the music "Jass."  Of course "Jazz" was a verb to
> describe what you did in the sporting houses.  It came from two sources
> "jizz" and the Jasmine scented perfume that the whore's wore.  The one thing
> I have never been able to find out is exactly when Jass officially became
> Jazz.  I wonder if anyone on the list knows that?   
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mike Vax
> Friends of Big Band Jazz, Prescott Jazz Summit, 
> Stan Kenton Alumni Band
> www.mikevax.net
> www.bigbandjazz.net
> www.prescottjazz.com
> www.getzen.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Norman writes:
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks, Mike.  Yes, my impression that "jass" was  a word connoting sexual
> intercourse.  I recall Eubie Blake on TV in his latter years saying, " I
> never call it jazz, I say ragtime."  But he never explained it.
> 
> 
> 
> I had heard that it was a newspaperman ( not sure where, probably New York)
> who wouldn't use jass in print, so he added the double "z" and that was
> first use of  word "jazz" in print.
> 
> 
> 
> Good discussion topic.;  Hope it will produce more light than heat.  Can
> anyone clarify!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --end--
> 
> 
> 
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