The word has become a part of American culture. "Jazzy" clothes. Hip Clothes. "Jazzy" car. Cool car. Hep cat daddyo. Hip lingo. The Jazz Age. Al Jolson in jThe Jazz Singer. Dixieland jazz. New Orleans jazz, swingin' jazz, live jazz, jive, Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday everybody knows jazz, right?
But where did the word come from? Who applied it to music in the first place? Given that it has some tawdry connotations, is jazz a fitting name for this highly dignified American music?
THEORIES
Origins of the word jazz are hazy and theories abound. In its original connotation, "jazz" was "jass". The word came out of bars and bordellos where early jazz was born in places like New Orleans, with its notorious Storyville red light district. Perhaps African Americans coined the term themselves to describe their music during its formative years, when jazz was used as a verb. A musician may have said, "Jazz it up," when he wanted a band to pick up a song's pace and swing hard. In various, literature from the past, the word has been spelled jasz, jascz, jas, jass, jaz and jazz.
Or maybe the word, like many others, takes it meaning from its sound or its sound from its meaning for that matter. On that basis, it could mean to hit, or strike, or launch, or some such short, quick stroke or action.
One thing about the word jazz is certain. No two people, whether they be writers, historians, musicians, or fans, will agree on exactly what it means or where it came from.
CONTROVERSY
Although jazz is performed by musicians of many colors and melds together elements of many kinds of music, it is essentially African American Music. Interwoven with jazz's history is the history of the black experience in America.
Many of the intense feelings surrounding the word jazz are valid. Some musicians and writers have objected to the use of the word jazz, with its historical context of prejudice and sometimes seamy connotations.
The term jazz was initially applied to largely African American music mostly by white writers. And over the years, many white musicians have made more money from the music than its black inventors. Most of jazz's innovators have been African American - Buddy Bolden, Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Ornette Coleman … just to name a few.
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