Bert Kelly's Jaz Band (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Tue, Sep 14, 2010 at 10:52:47AM -0400, Ben Zimmer wrote:
> On Mon, Sep 13, 2010 at 5:35 PM, Ben Zimmer
> <bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
> >
> > On Mon, Sep 13, 2010 at 5:10 PM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC wrote:
> >>>
> >>> The 1/15/1917 advertisement does confirm [Bert] 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.
> >>
> >> Also:
> >> [Indianapolis] _Freeman_ 11/25/1916 p 6 col 5 [EAN]
> >> [advertisement] "Biggest Ballad Hit of the Season
> >> By W. Benton Overstreet
> >> "I Wonder if Your Loving Heart Still Pines for Me"
> >> Sung with success by Anna Holt with Estelle Harris
> >> and her "Jazz" Orchestra."
> >>
> > [snip others from Dec. 1916]
> >
> > The ODJB's precursor, Stein's Band From Dixie, was referred to as "the
> > imported New Orleans Jass Band" in the May 1, 1916 Chicago Herald (see
> > HDAS and OED). The group accompanying Estella Harris was called a
> > "Jass Band" in the Chicago Defender on Sep. 30, 1916.
>
> There's also a notice in the Defender of 9/16/1916 about "Al Narcisse
> and his famous Jass Orchestra."
>
> And far from Chicago, there's this from the 8/28/1916 San Francisco
> Examiner (first reported here by George Thompson):
>
> "The Jazz Orchestra, under the leadership of Mr. George Gould, San
> Francisco's newest and most sensational find, for the dance lovers.
> Mr. Gould renders a number of his own creations with that Jazz
> syncopation rarely ever heard above the Mason and Dixon line."

The OED does have a quotation from May 1915 in the Chicago
Examiner for _jad orchestra_. It's not clear what this
represents, but I've seen the page image and there's no
question of what it is; the context is the same as similar
advertisements for jazz bands.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED

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