JAZZ

jazz (‘jaz) orig. U.S. slang. Also jas, jascz, jass, jasz, jaz. [origin unknown: while there is suggested derivations]

*1825[from crowd chants to a New Orleans dancing slave, Jasper. "Come on Jass!" or a black musician named Jazbo Brown with a similar chant.] 1860[from jass, jasm, or gism-slang expressions for speed and energy in athletic pursuits, and dance; probably in sexual contexts as well] 1895[from Mississippi Ragtime drummer, Charles or Chaz Washington]1904

[from a New Orleans band conductor Mr. Razz] 1905[a mispronunciation of Razz, a New Orleans Negro band]1910[from Charles or Chas Alexander’s Ragtime band] [from chasse dance step][from the Arab, jazib, meaning; one who allures] [from the African, jazia, meaning; the sound of distant drums] [from African, tshiluba jaja, meaning; to cause to dance, or Mandingo jasi and Wolof yees, meaning; to step out of character][from African ,Tenne yas, meaning to be extremely lively or energetic] [from Hindu, jasba, meaning; ardent desire] [from French, jaser, meaning; to pep up] slang phonology- words that end in /z/ have been representative for slang. Examples include fuzz= police, razz= heckle, jazz= hot music.

*1.n. Music. a. A style of music, native to America, characterized by a strong but flexible rhythmic understructure with solo and ensemble improvisations on basic tunes and chord patterns, and , more recently, a highly sophisticated harmonic idiom. A kind of ragtime dance.

1919 ‘MONSIEUR PIERRE’ How to Jazz. The Jazz is a three-step dance done to four-beat time. The three steps fall on the first three beats of the bar, the third being prolonged to last two beats, namely, the third and fourth. There are three distinct movements, which may be described as the Straight Jazz, the Side Jazz, and the Jazz Roll.

1952 B.ULANOV Jazz in America. When Brown’s band came to Chicago, directly from New Orleans, the word ‘jass’ had a semi-sordid sexual connotation. Chicago Musicians Union officials...thought that labeling this group a jass or jazz band would be a very successful smear.

1952 Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. Ellison begins the novel with the narrator listening to Louis Armstrong (American jazz trumpeter) playing, "What Did I Do to Be So Black and Blue?"

2001 NEW YORK TIMES Finding Jazz’s Soul in Africa’s Music.Jul8. Mr. Weston’s ( a piano player) insistence that jazz is essentially African music, that African music is at its core sacred and that African culture has shaped world history has not won many adherents among mainstream critics.

2001 NEW YORK TIMES A Universe of Music. Feb23. Three albums create unmistakably Brazilian takes on club culture...Lilian Veira, with a Dutch drummer, and a German keyboardist, floats her velvety voice above lean sampled backdrops of the lace acid jazz ( a funky music style that is a mixture of jazz, 70’s funk, hip-hop and soul).

*2. Slang. a. animation; enthusiasm

1985 WALL STREET JOURNAL Ad Agencies Jazz up Jingles By Playing on 1960’s Nostalgia Aprl18. While soft drink and beer marketers have long relied on jingles to help sell products, makers of cereals, detergents, and other household products now are jazzing up many of their ads. b. nonsense; humbug; spouted all the scientific jazz.

*3. Slang phrasal verb. jazz or jazzed up- to make more interesting; enliven.

2001 WALL STREET JOURNAL The Age of Aquariums Jun.29 It

(Camden Aquarium) has also jazzed up its exhibits with more colorful fish, penguins, and seals.

*4. (jazzy) Slang. adj. showy; flashy.

2001 NEW YORK TIMES How Public is a House May27. By the 1950’s, the low-slung ranch house living room seemed open and jazzy, but the bedrooms were tightly closed.

2001 SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL Jazzy Jewelry: Power Beads, Crystals, Chokers, Illusion and Tattoo Styles.

*5. (jazz age) the era of jazz.

1985 DIRECT MARKETING IT STARTED IN THE JAZZ AGE Jun.

*6. (jazz poem or jazz poetry) a poem that is read aloud to the accompaniment of jazz. Langston Hughes is given credit for the way he uses improvisation in his poetry just like the nature of jazz music. The repetition and stringing words together created a kind of word jazz.(note: the actual reading aloud of poetry accompanied by jazz is called jazzetry).

HARLEM RENAISSANCE POEM HARLEM NIGHT CLUB By Langston Hughes

 

Dark brown Girls

In Blond men’s arms

Jazz-band, jazz-band-

Sing Eve’s charms!

jazz-band, jazz-band,-

play, pLAY, PLAY!

Tomorrow...who knows?

Dance Today!

 

*7. a 5 function program that could open different files on the computer screen at one time. Introduced by Lotus for Apple Computer.(note: was not successful)

1985 COMPUTER WORLD Will Jazz Start Business Singing Mac’s Song? Jun24.

*8. youth and sensuality

1992 Jazz by Toni Morrison- The music and title portrayed in this novel are symbols for youth and sensuality.

Compiled by Joyce Fazio The Rhetoric of Race 7/01

Works Consulted

1. The American Heritage Dictionary

2. Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins by Robert

Hendrickson.

3. Dictionary of Literary Terms by J.A. Cuddon.

4. The Oxford Companion to African American Literature

edited by Andrews, Foster, and Harris.

5. Eric’s Jazz: Word Origins

http://members.tripod.com/~ericjazz/words/jazzword.html

6. The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology (1988)

7. The Oxford English Dictionary

8. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary

9. Proquest

Copyright by Joyce D. Fazio, 2001

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