[Ads-l] Further Antedating of "Old School" (Adjective, Music)

[Shapiro, Fred]

old school, adj. (OED, adj2, 1988)

1926 Times-Picayune (New Orleans) 17 Jan. 2/1 (GenealogyBank)

Some of the more definitely old school jazz, such as "Rhythm Rag" and "Tiger Rag," possessed the savage movement and abandon that bring out the primitive in most listeners.

Fred Shapiro


________________________________
From: ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, March 1, 2026 10:31 PM
To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at listserv.uga.edu>
Subject: Re: Antedating of "Old School" (Adjective, Music)

There was a thread about the adjectival form of "old school" in the
domain of music back in April 2024.

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At that time, I posted a 1937 citation for "old-school" applied to jazz.

Date: November 17, 1937
Periodical: Variety
Periodical Location: Los Angeles, California
Article: Music-Dance Tours: Disc Reviews
Author: Abel Green
Quote Page 54, Column 1
Database: ProQuest

[Begin excerpt]
Freddie Fisher and his Schnickel-fritzers on Decca 1501 give out 'Baby
Smiles at Me' and 'Nobody's Got the Blues But Me' in the corny-hot
manner which first brought this Twin Cities hinterland band to
attention, principally via the Decca disks, into a Warner Bros.
$25.000 contract. It's really old-school jazz, but commercial, and for
those who want to be a bit ahead of the parade in ‘discovering’ some
new novelty on the wax, this is a good sample.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Sun, Mar 1, 2026 at 9:17 PM Shapiro, Fred
<00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> "Castile Jazz" should be "Castle Jazz" in the citation below.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
> ________________________________
> From: Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
> Sent: Sunday, March 1, 2026 9:07 PM
> To: American Dialect Society <ads-l at listserv.uga.edu>
> Subject: Antedating of "Old School" (Adjective, Music)
>
> old school, adj. (OED, adj2, 1988)
>
> 1950 Down Beat 17 Nov. 13/5 (RIPM Jazz Periodicals)
>
> The only other band "imported" for the Jubilee this year was the Castile Jazz band of Portland and a group of young musicians who play their own conception of old-school jazz.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
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