What is Earliest Musical Usage of "Jazz"?

[Gerald Cohen]

Fred Shapiro today sent two messages about the possible earliest
musical usage of "jazz" coming about April 29 and Sept. 30, 1916.
Below my signoff is Fred's first message and then a reprint of a few
earlier messages. Musical "jazz" may go back to 1915, but I'm not
sure if there's hard evidence of this.

Gerald Cohen


At 9:35 AM -0500 12/20/03, Fred Shapiro wrote:
>There has been much discussion here about the earliest use of the word
>"jazz" meaning "vigor."  But it seems to me also of great interest to
>trace the earliest use of "jazz" in its musical sense.  Has there been any
>investigation of that question?  The earliest precisely dated citation in
>HDAS is from Variety, 27 Oct. 1916.  But the book _Lost Chords: White
>Musicians and Their Contribution to Jazz_ by Richard M. Sudhalter notes
>the following:
>
>"A September 30, 1916, Chicago Defender article refers to a 'jass band'
>led by black pianist-songwriter H. Benton Overstreet ('There'll Be Some
>Changes Made'), accompanying vaudeville singer Estella Harris."
>
>Does anyone have anything earlier than this?
>
>Fred Shapiro



*******

  Date:         Thu, 3 Apr 2003 11:07:24 -0500
  From:         George Thompson <george.thompson at NYU.EDU>
  Subject:      Re: Fwd (from Norm Cohen):"jazz"
  Comments: To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU

  Keppard/Kepperd/Kepard/Keperd and several other possible
misspellings don't show up in the Historical NYTimes from the 1910s.
"Elaine & Her Creole Band" played at an All-Star Theatrical Benefit
at the Shubert Theater, W44th, on May 21, 1916, advertized (in small
type) on May 19 & 21.  I have friends at the Shubert ARchive & will
ask them whether they have any information of Elaine, esp. whether
her Creole Band played jazz or whether Keppard ever played the
Shubert chain, calling his music jazz.

  GAT

  George A. Thompson
  Author of A Documentary History of "The African
  Theatre", Northwestern Univ. Pr., 1998.

  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Gerald Cohen <gcohen at UMR.EDU>
  Date: Wednesday, April 2, 2003 9:27 pm
  Subject: Fwd (from Norm Cohen):"jazz"

  >   Norm Cohen (no relation) recently sent me a message about "jazz",
  > and with his permission I present it below my signoff.  It pertains
  > to the early attestations of "jazz" in a musical sense.
  >
  >   OED gives 1917 as the earliest attestation of "jazz" in a musical
  > sense; (set aside the 1909 example as an error).  Meanwhile, Irving
  > Lewis Allen, _The City In Slang_, 1993, p.71, citing Gunther
  > Schuller's 1968 _Early Jazz..._, says: "In 1915 jazz was introduced
  > to New Yorkers in a vaudeville theater by Freddie Keppard's Creole
  > Band, but few took notice."
  >
  > Gerald Cohen
  >
  >
  > >From: "Norm Cohen" <ncohen at teleport.com>
  > >To: "Cohen, Gerald" <gcohen at umr.edu>
  > >Subject: "jazz"
  > >Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2003 08:32:52 -0800
  > >
  > >Gerald:
  > >I came across the following reference to "jass," which while not
  > earth>shaking provides more evidence for its use in 1916.
  > >"According to the _Chicago Defender_, in October 1916 African
  > American>entertainer Estelle Harris was performing Spencer
  > Williams's tune
  > >"Sihim-Me-Sha-Wabble" with her "jass [sic] singers and dancers"
  > at the South
  > >Side's Grand Theater, located just across the street from the
  > Elite No. 1."
  > >footnote reference:  Chicago Defender, Sept. 30, 1916, and Oct.
  > 14, 1916.
  > >This from an article by Rebecca A. Bryant, "Shaking Things Up:
  > Popularizing>the Shimmy in America," in American Music v. 20 no. 2
  > (Summer 2002),168-187.
  > >The above quote is on p 170.  The "sic" is hers.
  > >Norm
  >