[Ads-l] Possible Earlier Evidence of the Word "Jazz" in New Orleans

[Shapiro, Fred]

Ben Zimmer and I have commented on the fact that New Orleans seems to have been late in the game of using the term "jazz" for a musical genre.  I believe that Ben found the earliest New Orleans newspaper reference to musical "jazz," in a November 12, 1916 article in the New Orleans Item.  That article points to earlier New Orleans usage, but no earlier citations have been found.

I notice now that the Chicago Tribune had an article on October 19, 1916, page 2, quoting Joseph Swerling, said to be a "former reporter."  Swerling is quoted as follows:  "I was alone when I made my first visit to the Schiller ... It had the first jass band in town, advertised as having been imported from New Orleans."  This seems to imply that the term was used in New Orleans before October 1916.  Swerling goes on to explain what a jazz band is to listeners who had never heard the term before.  I find the listeners' ignorance to be a little surprising, since the Chicago Tribune had run a big article in July 1915 explaining what jazz music was.

Fred Shapiro


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