" jazz"--( issue of early attestations)

[Cohen, Gerald Leonard]

Dear Mrs. Stoltz and Dr. Karl Koenig (with a cc. to the American Dialect Society and SABR),
   The earliest mention of "jazz" in a San Francisco newspaper (San Francisco Bulletin) that I'm aware of is from March 3, 1913, p. 13/4: 'McCarl has been healded all along the line as a "busher", but now it develops that this dope is very much to the "jazz".'  Also, NYU librarian George Thompson, Jr. spotted several attestations of baseball "jazz" from April 2 and April 3, 1912 in the Los Angeles Times ("Ben's Jazz Curve"...'"I call it the Jazz ball because it wobbles and you simply can't do anything with it"'), although the significance of these 1912 attestations is still a matter of controversy.

    If Dr. Koenig or Professor Gushee has a "jazz" attestation which predates March 3, 1913 for any San Francisco newspaper, this would indeed be big news. (Btw, the 1909 "jazz" attestation in OED has been acknowledged as an error.)

Sincerely,
Gerald Cohen,
one of several researchers on the origin of the term "jazz"
P.S. I don't have the UMR article before me and no longer remember just what it says.

________________________________

From: Stoltz, Mary Helen
Sent: Fri 8/25/2006 2:58 PM
To: 'Karl Koenig'; 'PR-L at UMR.EDU'
Cc: Cohen, Gerald Leonard
Subject: RE: jazz

Dr. Koenig,
Thanks for contacting us about the jazz article.  It was based on the research of Gerald Cohen, an etymologist and professor of foreign languages here at UMR.  I will copy him on this reply, as I'm sure he'd be interested to hear about your research.

Good luck with your new book.

Mary Helen Stoltz
Manager, Public Relations
UMR Communications
105-A Campus Support Facility
1870 Miner Circle
Rolla, MO 65409-0220
573-341-4966

-----Original Message-----
From: Public Relations Staff [mailto:PR-L at umr.edu] On Behalf Of Karl Koenig
Sent: Friday, August 25, 2006 2:38 PM
To: PR-L at UMR.EDU
Subject: jazz

Read your artcile on the use of the word 'jazz' as a baseball term. I'm
a jazz researcher (have published over 30 books (basinstreet.com) and in
my research a professor Larry Gushee found the use of the term 'jazz' in
a San Francisco newspaper earlier then the date you quote. I can look up
the date that he used. I am working on a new book about early jazz and
baseball. One quote from my research is "To be successful a town needs:
a band, a baseball team and pretty girls." Sincerely Karl Koenig, PhD

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