early "jazz" in Variety

[Ben Zimmer]

As Barry has informed us, the quirky fultonhistory.com site has
archived early issues of _Variety_ -- a top-level index shows that the
coverage is from 1906 to 1922:

http://fultonhistory.com/my%20photo%20albums/All%20Newspapers/Variety/index.html

The best way to use the archive, I've found, is by doing a Google site
search, constructing a query like so: <http://goo.gl/Bs5Lk>
(site:fultonhistory.com inurl:variety inurl:1916 jass|jazz|jaz). That
turns up a mention of a "jass band" in the Sept. 1, 1916 issue, in a
review of entertainment at McVicker's Theatre in Chicago (see first
cite below). According to Laurence Gushee in _Pioneers of Jazz_, this
would have been the Original Dixieland Jass Band (then accompanying
Fogarty's Dancing Revue), though their rivals the Creole Band also
played the same venue:

http://books.google.com/books?id=M8Zw7lmvLvAC&pg=PT324

As Garson noted, most page images in the archive don't have dates on
them, so you need to navigate back to the first page of the issue to
find the date. Here are a couple of antedatings:

* jazz/jass, v. 'play jazz music' (OED3 28 June 1917)

1916 _Variety_ 1 Sept. 28/1 The dancing was no doubt appreciated and
the audience entertained with the Texas Tommy dance brought more
up-to-date but the real interest was centered in the coatless but
whiteshirted white musicians who "jassed" away at the raggedy,
foxtrotty numbers. The music may not spell class but it does spell
"jass" and what more would anyone at McVicker's want?

p. 1: http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2015/Variety/Variety%201916/Variety%201916%20-%201143.pdf
p. 28: http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2015/Variety/Variety%201916/Variety%201916%20-%201170.pdf

* jazzist (OED3 1921)

1917 _Variety_ 21 Sept. 26/1 Miss Seeley has assembled the greatest
aggregation of "Jazzists" in America (the Benny Fields combination
from Chicago's South Side).

p. 1: http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2015/Variety/Variety%201917/Variety%201917%20-%202757.pdf
p. 26: http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2015/Variety/Variety%201917/Variety%201917%20-%202780.pdf

--bgz


On Wed, Apr 10, 2013 at 6:00 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole wrote:
>
> Thanks Barry and Jerry: There is no date on the page, but there is a
> strategy to access adjacent pages. Admittedly, the Old Fulton Post
> Card database is difficult to use. The date of the issue of Variety
> that contains the passage is:  June 14, 1918
> The date is shown on page 1 and page 3 of the issue.
>
> On Wed, Apr 10, 2013 at 4:04 PM, Cohen, Gerald Leonard wrote:
> >
> > Barry Popik sent me the message below, and I now forward it to ads-l.  Can
> > anyone perhaps add to it?
> >
> > ________________________________________
> > From: Barry Popik [bapopik at aol.com]
> > Sent: Wednesday, April 10, 2013 9:04 AM
> > To: Cohen, Gerald Leonard
> > Subject: Paul Asch, leader of the original San Francisco jazz orchestra?
> >
> > FWIW, I was in the very comprehensive but I-can't sort-by-date Old
> > Fulton NY Post Cards database, now at over 21 millions pages. This
> > might be interesting for the origins of "jazz" music in San Francisco:
> > ...
> > http://fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html
> > 1918 (no date on page), Variety, pg. 8, col. 2:
> > Paul Asch, leader of the original San Francisco "jazz orchestra,"
> > enlisted in the Marines last week and joined the band at Mare Island.
> > ...
> > There's not much on Paul Asch except for this, from GenealogyBank.com:
> > ...
> > Date: Tuesday, June 18, 1918
> > Paper: Evening News (San Jose, CA)
> > Volume: 168
> > Issue: 437
> > Page: Three
> > U. S. MARINE CORPS BAND
> > (...)
> > PAUL ASCH, Pianist
> > ...
> > Barry Popik
> > Austin, TX

--
Ben Zimmer
http://benzimmer.com/

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