(strictly) vonce

[Laurence Horn]

At 3:35 AM -0400 7/22/05, Benjamin Zimmer wrote:
>"Vonce" is one of the more polysemous terms in jazz slang. I've seen
>references to "vonce" as a euphemism for marijuana, and also for sex (in
>the phrase, "do the vonce"). In these examples from the _New Pittsburgh
>Courier_, "(strictly) vonce" is used as a general term of approbation for
>skillfully performed bebop music:

Very economical, to have one term that can refer variously to sex,
drugs, and rock 'n' roll (mutatis mutandis).

Larry

>-----
>New Pittsburgh Courier, Mar 26, 1960, p. 23, "Data 'Bout Discs"
>Strictly vonce is the stick work of Blakey behind Ken on "Lady Be Good"
>and Roland Hanna's extremely active right hand gets a great piano workout
>on "Hallelujah."
>-----
>New Pittsburgh Courier, May 28, 1960, p. 22, "Data 'Bout Discs"
>This is truly a "hip" album and strictly on the vonce side.
>-----
>New Pittsburgh Courier, Jun 25, 1960, p. 8, "The Cats and Chicks Dug
>Thelonious Monk's Homecoming the Most!"
>It was the ultimate in epistrophe. It was vonce, strictly.
>-----
>New Pittsburgh Courier, Dec 30, 1961, p. 19, "Data 'Bout Discs"
>Such notables as Harold Land, Johnny Griffin, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis,
>Junior Mance, Charlie Rouse, Blue Mitchell, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Red,
>Yusef Lateef, Walt Benton, Fred Hubbard, Wynton Kelly and John Lytle are
>on the "vonce" tracks.
>-----
>New Pittsburgh Courier, Mar 24, 1962, p. 21, "Data 'Bout Discs"
>The MGM affiliate lined up an all star crew of journeymen for this
>promotion under the skillful baton of Gary McFarland. The results were
>"vonce."
>-----
>New Pittsburgh Courier, May 26, 1962, p. 18, "Data 'Bout Discs"
>To say the least the arrangements here are strictly vonce in fashion and
>Morgan manages to shout somewhat lustily.
>-----
>
>The 6/25/60 cite suggests that "vonce" was associated with Thelonious
>Monk. In Monk's first recording session in Oct. 1947, he recorded a song
>called "Evonce", cowritten by tenor saxophonist Ike Quebec and trumpter
>Idrees Sulieman. A Billboard article explains the title:
>
>-----
>Billboard, Jun 27, 1998, p. 52, "Let's call this"
>Many of Monk's titles are almost surely the reply given in the studio to
>the question, "what's the name of that?" For example, the title used to
>head this sidebar. Other are "Think Of One," "Ask Me Now," "Worry Later,"
>"We See." There is also "Evonce." "Vonce" is one of the thousand names for
>marijuana.
>-----
>
>But "(e)vonce" wasn't *just* a name for marijuana. It apparently started
>as a nonsense word in jazz circles, credited both to Lester Young and to
>Jo Jones:
>
>-----
>http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0819562874/
>_Upside Your Head!_ (1993) by Johnny Otis, p. 75
>LESTER: "So, the Little Esthereenie kittie was a good lick o'reenie for
>you, huh?"
>J.O. "Yeah, the little chick was a blessing for us. She's raisin' sand all
>over the country."
>LESTER: "Y'all eatin' regular now ... dig." [chuckle]
>J.O. "Yeah, and payin' the rent too, sometimes."
>LESTER: "They'll be tryin' to copy her song, evonce -- that's the stuff
>you gotta' watch, dig."
>"EVONCE" was another Lester Young secret punctuation word that nobody knew
>the actual meaning of.
>-----
>http://print.google.com/print?id=kpGL3TQuiJ4C
>http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0306811146/
>_Myself Among Others_ by George Wein (2003), p. 92
>Jo Jones had his own vocabulary--less extensive but no less cryptic than
>that of Lester Young. He used two choice phrases: "the vonce," and "the
>ding-ding." "Man when I was with Basie," he'd say, "we'd come up on the
>vonce, and the man would put the ding-ding here."
>-----
>
>This quote from pianist Herbie Nichols comes the closest to the sense used
>in the _New Pittsburgh Courier_:
>
>-----
>http://print.google.com/print?id=i_ldXE_MGWkC
>_Four Lives in the Bebop Business_ (1966), reprinted as _Four Jazz Lives_
>by A. B. Spellman (2004), p. 158
>The President [Lester Young] never coasted in those days. He was an eager
>beaver. Kenny Kersey used to play an extremely fast and modern octave
>style at the keyboard. At the time my head was chock full of 'classical
>vonce' and I, too, was fast and wild as lightning at the piano in my
>fascination of the competition around me.
>-----
>
>
>--Ben Zimmer