Bert Kelly's Jaz Band (UNCLASSIFIED)

Wed Sep 15 22:20:10 UTC 2010

        It presumably would take more than a single reference in one article, referring to a slang word elsewhere, to get musicians to call their band a "jazz" band.  But it wouldn't have been difficult or surprising for them to come into contact with people who had lived on or visited the West Coast, where "jazz" was starting to achieve some currency.

        More information is available in the uncredited article, "'Stale Bread's' Sadness Gave 'Jazz' to the World," on pp. 47 - 48 of The Literary Digest (Apr. 26, 1919), online in full text at http://books.google.com/books?id=lbsvAAAAYAAJ.  The title refers to the supposed originator of the musical form, named only as "Stale Bread" in the article but elsewhere referred to as Emile Lacoume (see the Wikipedia article on the Razzy Dazzy Spasm Band).  Jon and Jesse are already aware of the Literary Digest article, which is cited in HDAS, but I don't believe it's been discussed in any detail on ADS-L.  I quote at length:

        <<Mr. [Joseph K.] Gorham, the man who introduced "jazz" to Chicago, when it spread to New York and the East, came to New Orleans five years ago to direct the Grunewald winter amusement features.  Not long after his arrival he was halted as he was walking along Canal Street by the discordant, yet strangely harmonious and amazing efforts of a group of performers . . . .

        . . . The players were then known, he found out, as "Brown's Orchestra."

        Last week Mr. Gorham dug out from his trunk a four-year-old notebook, in which he displayed the memorandum:  "Brown's band, good rag orchestra, can't read music, 1108 Camp Street."  That was before the connection of the word "jazz" with the wild harmony.  The leader of the players was Raymond Lopez, the cornetist.  The others were Tom Brown, trombone; Gus Mueller, clarinet, and William Lambert.

        In the season of 1915 - 1916, Mr. Gorham arranged for the band to play in Lamb's Café in Chicago.  They appeared there as "Brown's Band from Dixieland."

        . . . .

        So heated has become the controversy among the pioneers of "jazz," we read, that in Harlem recently it was necessary for the police to take a hand when two rival bands met outside the Alhambra Theater in New York.  This is one side of the argument, as attributed to Bert Kelly, who claims the distinction of having coined the expression "jazz band":

        The phrase "jazz band" was first used by Bert Kelly in Chicago in the fall of 1915, and was unknown in New Orleans.  In March, 1916, the first New Orleans band of cornet, clarinet, trombone, drums, and piano arrived in Chicago to play in Lamb's Café; it was called "Brown's Band from Dixieland."  The band was brought from New Orleans on recommendation of [Joe] Frisco, who was then dancing in Lamb's Café.  (Note they did not use the "jazz band.")  The band consisted of Tom Brown, trombone (now with Bert Kelly's Jazz Band); Raymond Lopez, cornet (now with Blossom Seeley) Gus Mueller, clarinet, United States Army; William Lambert, drums, United States Army.

        This was the first and by far the best band that ever came from New Orleans.  Gus Mueller, clarinet-player, joined Kelly in the spring of 1916 and was placed at White City, Chicago, with the following combination:  Gus Mueller, clarinet; C.O. Brush, banjo; Fred Miller, saxophone; Jack O'Neill, piano, and Fred Oxenius, drums.  At this time Harry James's meteoric career as a café manager was starting, and he was in charge of the Boosters' Club in the Hotel Morrison, Chicago, and had a ladies' orchestra playing for his dancing.

        Kelly approached him with a proposition to furnish him with better music.  James agreed, raised his prices, and printed cards for his tables reading:  "On account of the bit expense of hiring Bert Kelly's Jazz Band for the entertainment of our patrons, it has been necessary to raise the prices as follows," etc.

        This was in the fall of 1916, and the band from White City was the first band ever to be advertised as a "jazz" band.  It was a big success, and in the spring of 1917 James sent to New Orleans for the Original Dixieland Jazz Band and insisted upon their using the words "Jazz Band."

        This was in 1917, and the Original Dixieland Jazz Band was the first New Orleans band to use the term, while Bert Kelly used it in 1915.  Bert Kelly had about twenty orchestras known as Bert Kelly's Jazz Band, and when the Dixieland arrived they adopted their name of "Original Dixieland Jazz Band.">>

        It appears that the last five paragraphs come straight from Bert Kelly and give only his side of the argument.  Unfortunately, the dating throughout the article seems to be a bit hazy.  Did Gorham meet Brown "five years ago" (1914) or when he filled out his "four-year-old notebook" (1915)?  Did Brown start to play at Lambs' Café early in the season of 1915 - 1916, or in March 1916?  Alternatively, was it May 15, 1915, as stated in the unsourced article on Tom Brown (trombonist) on Wikipedia?  If Bert Kelly first used "jazz band" in the fall of 1915, how could the Tribune already use "jazz" to mean "blues" in July 1915?

        What does seem likely is that the Lambs' Café advertisement of the "Original Jad Orchestra for dancing," in May 1916, did have something to do with jazz and probably referred to Tom Brown's band, which apparently was playing there at that time.

John Baker

-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Ben Zimmer
Sent: Tuesday, September 14, 2010 9:58 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Bert Kelly's Jaz Band (UNCLASSIFIED)

On Tue, Sep 14, 2010 at 7:49 PM, Baker, John <JMB at stradley.com> wrote:
>
>        So it remains the case that "jazz" almost certainly came from
> the West Coast, probably derived from "jasm," and may well have been
> introduced by Bert Kelly.  However, Tom Brown's Band is the earliest
> documented example and probably was calling itself a jazz band by 1915,
> so Kelly's claim is unproven at best.  After all, Kelly may have been at
> Boyes Springs, but there were plenty of people who had been on the West
> Coast and read their newspapers.

And they didn't even have to be on the West Coast, since they could
have read a widely syndicated June 1913 article on "city slang,"
explaining that "out in San Francisco the most popular word is 'the
old jazz.'" We know that one version was published in the Fort Wayne
Sentinel and the Idaho Daily Statesman, and another version in the
Duluth News Tribune. No doubt many other papers picked it up.

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0312D&L=ADS-L&P=5116
http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0706D&L=ADS-L&P=R1097

--bgz

--
Ben Zimmer
http://benzimmer.com/

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