some jazzy cites

[Wilson Gray]

As a matter of fact. (The preceding is antique in-group slang for
"yes" from back in my Army career.) Well, strictly speaking, I didn't
play gator tail, siince I played the alto and the gator tail sensu
stricto was the tenor. Back in the day, Willis "Gator Tail" Jackson
was a well-known tenor man, otherwise known as the - or should that be
"a"? - husband of Ruth Brown.

-Wilson

On 4/11/07, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: some jazzy cites
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> "'Gator tail" ?  Sax was your ax ?
>
>   JL
>
> Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>   ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Wilson Gray
> Subject: Re: some jazzy cites
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> In jazz, "chops" has applied to the embouchure of the player of any
> wind instrument whatsoever, at least since the late 'Forties, when
> this corespondent blew 'gator tail in his elementary-school band.
>
> -Wilson
>
> On 4/10/07, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society
> > Poster: "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC"
> > Subject: some jazzy cites
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > OED on "chops":
> > =20
> > chop, n.2
> > =20
> > In pl. Jazz (orig. U.S.). a. The power of a trumpeter's embouchure.=20
> > =20
> > 1947 in R. S. Gold Jazz Talk (1975) 48 He might not have the chops he used =
> > to have, but his ideas are always fine. 1966 L. ARMSTRONG Self-Portrait 40 =
> > I'd go wild in those solos -- up there in the high register all the time, a=
> > nd if I had some more chops left, just use 'em some more. 1993 Newsweek 18 =
> > Jan. 39 Others would've killed to have his [sc. Dizzy Gillespie's] chops.
> > =20
> > =20
> > b. A jazz musician's skills; (in extended use) talent or skill in any fi=
> > eld.=20
> > =20
> > 1968 in A. Chapman New Black Voices 147 Maybe you could get your chops toge=
> > ther on this horn. 1973 'D. ELLINGTON' Music is my Mistress 247 Musicians..=
> > who like to get together once or twice a week to try out their chops. 1990 =
> > Boston Phoenix 27 Apr.-3 May PLS9/2 Most academic writers just don't have t=
> > he chops to make riveting reading out of the quiltwork of 19th-century farm=
> > wives. 2003 Sunday Herald (Glasgow) 29 June (Review) 4/1 It was a comic ro=
> > le, but one that required serious acting chops.
> > =20
> > Sense a:
> > "Satchmo Will Keep Blowing Till 'I Can't Blow No Mo' " by John Hoerr
> > _Dallas Morning News_ 1959-07-31 > Sec: 1 Page 12 col 2.
> > " "And there wasn't nothing wrong with my chops or my voice like the doctor=
> > s said," Louis rasped."=20
> > =20
> > =20
> > =20
> > Sense b: Extended Use (in reference to acting skills):
> > =20
> > "Harriet Nelson in Dramatic Role," Oakland (CA) _Tribune_, 8/29/1976, p. 3 =
> > col 4.
> > "She was asked whether it had been hard to get her acting chops back in sha=
> > pe for the far stronger emoting required for her ABC movie role."
> > =20
> > =20
> > Extended Use (in reference to sleight of hand skills):
> > "Fist Full O' Washers" by Michael Close, _Genii_ July 1984, p. 522 col 1. =
> > [note: the writer, Michael Close, is a jazz pianist as well as a magician]
> > "This trick is not for the faint of "chops" however, and a familiarity with=
> > Vernon's "Spellbound" and Ross Bertram's "Ten to One" (Magic and Methods o=
> > f Ross Bertram, pp. 24-25) will facilitate learning this routine."
> > =20
> > =20
> > =20
> > "All that jazz" OED has 1959.
> > "Steve Fails To Top Ed In First Try; Will Improve"
> > JOHN CROSBY
> > The Hartford Courant (1923-1984); Jun 27, 1956; pg. 9 col 5.
> > ""The Steve Allen Show" is pretty much like "Tonight" where Allen also hold=
> > s sway, except that it has been formalized a little bit - that is, hashed o=
> > ver, written, rehearsed and all that jazz - and therein lies its chief faul=
> > t, at least on the opening show."
> >
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>
> --
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> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -----
> -Sam'l Clemens
>
> "Experience" is the ability to recognize a mistake when you make it, again.
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--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
                                                      -Sam'l Clemens

"Experience" is the ability to recognize a mistake when you make it, again.

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org