Query: Earliest attestation of "Razzy Dazzy Jazzy Band"

[Ben Zimmer]

On Sat, Sep 3, 2011 at 1:34 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> On Sat, Sep 3, 2011 at 1:45 PM, Gerald Cohen <gcohen at mst.edu> wrote:
>> >> David Gold's 2009 book Studies in Etymology and Etiology (non-comittally)
>> >> reproduces a 1989 item which derives the term "jazz" from a New Orleans
>> >> "Razzy Dazzy Jazzy Band."
>
> No trace of a "razzy dazzy jazzy" anything in NewspaperArchive, ProQuest
> Historical Newspapers, Gale 19th Century U.S. Newspapers, the Old Fulton NY
> Post Cards site, or the L of C Chronicling America site.
>
> Likewise for "razzy jazzy dazzy," etc.
>
> Herbert Asbury's _The Latin Quarter_ (1936) alleges the following:

I've also looked into this to no avail. Daniel Hardie's _Exploring
Early Jazz_ has a cite from a 1919 letter to the New York Dramatic
Mirror talking about the Razzy Dazzy *Spasm* Band, of which the Razzy
Dazzy Jazzy Band was supposedly an offshoot, but even the letter
writer wasn't sure if that had anything to do with the origin of the
word "jazz".

--bgz

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

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