Predating "boogaloo"

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Mon, 22 Nov 2004 18:31:51 -0500, Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM> wrote:

>HDAS dates "boogaloo" to 1974 as a noun, to 1972 as part of a verb
>phrase and to 1971 as a verb, noting that all uses derive from the name
>of a dance popular in the 'Sixties.
>
>An otherwise-unknown singer, Kent Harris, fronting two different
>equally otherwise-unknown bands, Freddie Simon's Band and Ernie
>Freeman's Combo (Ernie Freeman did enjoy his fifteen minutes of fame as
>a solo act) recorded several songs under the name, "Boogaloo and His
>Gallant Crew," for Crest Records in 1956.

But what about the late boogie-woogie piano player Abie "Boogaloo" Ames
(1918-2002)?

   Washington Post, February 8, 2002
   At the age of 5, Mr. Ames began playing piano, and his style
   earned him the nickname "Boogaloo" in the 1940s. He moved to
   Detroit as a teenager and started a band, touring Europe with
   Louis Armstrong in 1936. He worked at Motown Studio and
   befriended other great musicians such as Nat King Cole and
   Errol Garner.

See also:
http://www.shs.starkville.k12.ms.us/mswm/MSWritersAndMusicians/musicians/BoogalooAmes/BoogalooAmes2.html


--Ben Zimmer