Bert Kelly's Jaz Band

[Baker, John]

Bert Kelly is the leading contender for first using "jazz" to refer to a kind of music.  I did a search for the use of his name in Historical Newspapers for the period 1914  - 1919 to see what early evidence there is.
 
The earliest I found is from January 15, 1917, in the Chicago Tribune.  The display advertisement reads:
 
ALLIED BAZAAR
for EUROPEAN WAR SUFFERERS
CABARET by a Galaxy
of Stars from Chicago's
leading Theaters
 
DANCING every after-
noon and evening
Bert Kelly's Jaz Band
COLISEUM - NOW
Admission     50c
 
 
I was going to complain that my modern keyboard does not include the "cents" symbol, but actually the advertisement does use just the letter c.
 
Most of the advertisements for Bert Kelly are for the Grand Pacific Hotel and refer to music by "Bert Kelly's Dance Orchestra" (earliest:  Feb. 22, 1917), "Bert Kelly's Orchestra" (earliest:  Apr. 5, 1917), or "Bert Kelly's Famous Dance Orchestra" (earliest:  June 3, 1917).  However, there is also an advertisement for The Wyn-Cliff Inn that refers to "Bert Kelly's Original Jass Band" (May 17, 1917).  All of these are in the Chicago Daily Tribune.
 
All of the advertisements for Kelly's band/orchestra are from 1917.  Presumably that signifies only that it was during this period alone that he played at establishments that advertised in publications archived by Historical Newspapers.
 
The 1/15/1917 advertisement does confirm Kelly's claim that he was among the first to use "jazz band," but does not demonstrate his absolute priority, since there were at least two other "jazz bands," Brown's Jazz Band and the Original Dixieland Jass Band, prior to that date.
 
 
John Baker
 

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