Ruminations on the chronology of "jazz" -- (was: article on early jazz recordings)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Thu, 19 May 2005 01:48:09 -0400, Benjamin Zimmer
<bgzimmer at RCI.RUTGERS.EDU> wrote:

>Taking things back a little earlier, it looks like "jass band" was already
>commonly used in Chicago in the summer of 1916:
[snip cites]

And just as common (if not more so) was "jaz band":

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Chicago Tribune, May 22, 1916, p. 13/4
As near as the policemen could judge there were about sixty persons, men
and women, white and black, sitting at tables, while a "Jaz band" and
mellow singers battled for supremacy.
-----
Chicago Tribune, Jun 8, 1916, p. 4/4
KEY-NOTING WITH LARDNER. By Ring W. Lardner.
So he sung it with the Jaz band, and I owned up I couldn't of wrote it,
because here are some of the words.
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Chicago Tribune, Jul 7, 1916, p. 2/5
CHICAGO NEGRO SOLDIERS REACH SAN ANTONIO CAMP.
Col. Denison Leads Men into Fort Sam Houston to Tunes of "Jaz" Band.
Over the hills of Shoemaker Mud, and clear as sleighbells, through the
sultry valley came a tune that was freighted with homesickness for Chicago
troops. Thirty-fifth street, with its tinkling ram-a-tams, had marched up
overnight behind those dun hillocks to the west -- not at all. It was just
the "Jaz band" of the Eighth Illinois infantry making light the steps to
camp for the Negro doughboys.
-----
Chicago Tribune, Jul 16, 1916, p. B1/1
A jaz band played "Pretty Baby" and "My Country, 'Tis of Thee."
-----
Chicago Tribune, Aug 1, 1916, p. 18/1
Tears added to perspiration will make of me an obese deluge, so instead of
remaining to witness the hara-kiri of Cho Cho San I shall adjourn after
the first act to the dancing casino and there be merry under the
ministration of the jaz band.
-----
Chicago Tribune, Oct 19, 1916, p. 2/6
AT THE HEALYOGRAFT TRIAL. By Ring W. Lardner.
I ceased conversing long enough to hear Attorney Healy ask the witness
what a jass, or jaz, band was. The ignorance of some of these so-called
clever lawyers is appalling.
-----

Note the two cites from Ring Lardner.  There was one other Lardner column
about a visit to Camp Lincoln ("Now He Knows Why Soldiers Call It 'Mess'")
with an interesting usage of "jaz":

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Chicago Tribune, Jun 28, 1916, p. 5/3
If I was depending on somebody to protect me from Mexicans or anybody
else, I would rather have the Jaz, meaning colored, regiment protect me
than anybody else.
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--Ben Zimmer