JAZZ (or, Ken Burns gets it wrong!)

[Gerald Cohen]

On Nov. 7, 2000 Fred Shapiro accurately commented on Barry Popik's message
from earlier in the day:
>
>I want to second Barry's amazement on this.  There has been a fair amount
>of scholarship on the word "jazz," summarized in the entry in the
>Historical Dictionary of American Slang.  Burns shows no sign of even
>indirect influence by any of the relevant scholarship.
>
-------I fully concur with Barry's and Fred's assessment. Also, I have
prepared a 70 page compilation of information on the term "jazz," slated
originally to appear in a few months in my publication "Comments on
Etymology"  (a series of working papers.)  In light of the present
discussion of "jazz" I'll move the publication date of that issue up to the
present.  I can have the issue ready to be mailed out in a week or two.

        Incidentally, due credit is given throughout the article. As a
start, the catalyst for my own work on the term "jazz" came from several
ADS-L messages sent by Barry Popik.

-----Gerald Cohen

















gcohen at umr.edu