Query: Earliest attestation of "Razzy Dazzy Jazzy Band"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Just as I was about to delete that ref. as partial and erroneous, the phone
rang, and when I got back I sent it inadvertently. Sorry.

Yes, I meant _The French Quarter_.  I have a copy of the book somewhere, but
I haven't found it yet.

JL

On Sat, Sep 3, 2011 at 7:04 PM, Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Query: Earliest attestation of "Razzy Dazzy Jazzy Band"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The name Razzy Dazzy Jazzy Band is mentioned in ProQuest in the
> Chicago Tribune in 1938.
>
> A LINE O' TYPE OR TWO
> Chicago Daily Tribune (1923-1963) [Chicago, Ill] 17 Aug 1938: 10.
>
>  But the author of the article is retelling a story that he credits as
> follows: "Herbert Asbury tells a story that sounds plausible, and is
> supported by living witnesses, in his book of New Orleans lore called
> "The French Quarter.""
>
> Jonathan Lighter mentions a book that may be the same book under another
> name:
> Herbert Asbury's _The Latin Quarter_ (1936) alleges the following:
>
> Hence, this citation is quite late but may be useful for tracking the
> propagation of the Razzy Dazzy Jazzy Band story.
>
>
> On Sat, Sep 3, 2011 at 2:04 PM, Ben Zimmer
> <bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> > Subject:      Re: Query: Earliest attestation of "Razzy Dazzy Jazzy Band"
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > 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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> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
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