The Jargon of Jazz

THE JARGON OF JAZZ by DANIEL EVERETT WILSON B. S., West Chester State Teachers College West Chester, Pennsylvania, 1952 A THESIS submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF SCIENCE Department of English KANSAS STATE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND APPLIED SCIENCE 1954 uu 3.00f JK>£0*^ TABLE 0F CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 Raison D'Etre 1 Purpose end Scope 4 A Definition 5 Difficulties of the Study 9 Outline and Summary of Content 15 A BRIEF HISTORY OF JAZZ 20 The French Influence 24 Storyville and Jazz 26 Jazz Expands 28 PLACE NAMES 33 New Orleans 34 Chicago 45 New York 62 AFRICAN SURVIVALS 72 The Importance of Music in West Africa 74 Religion 7b Dancing 80 Jazz 81 African Speech Retention 84 African Survivals In the Jargon of Jazz 85 SUMMARY 94 ACKNOWLEDGMENT 98 REFERENCES 99 THE GLOSSARY 103 INTRODUCTION Jazz, in the past twenty years of its existence and development, has reached the point where it provides employment for literally thousands of musicians. No longer merely a hobby or passing fancy, Jazz has become a full-fledged profession, and as such, has naturally developed a vocabulary which is peculiar to the jazzman. It is this vocabulary of the jazzman or those closely associated with jazz music which is the subject of this thesis and which will be referred to hereafter as the jargon of jazz. This thesis includes both a historical study and an etymological glossary of these terms. Raison D'Stre Jazz has been played and listened to in this country now for approximately fifty years. Originally a Negro music of New Orleans, jazz spread northward at first and then east and west, until today it is an undeniable part of the culture of this country. So thoroughly has jazz been assimilated by the /imerican culture that words which were once used only by jazz musicians have now come into common U3e. Many of the users of these words are unaware of their origin, it is true, and some terms have changed their meanings to a marked degree throughout the years, but that jazz has contributed to Ameri- can speech Is undeniable. Such words as "jazz," "swing," • "corn," "longhair," and "boogie woogia" are only a few exam- ples of the jazz terms which have found their way into the vocabulary of the average American. Even though they may not be actively employed, their meanings are understood by most persons. Undeniable as this jazz influence is, however, little reliable information is available concerning the origin and development of this vocabulary. It is true that recent dictionaries of Amerioan slang include some of the Jazz Jargon, but certainly the coverage has been far from adequate, and in no case are there reliable data concerning the sources or possible sources of these words. In the biographies of such jazzmen as Eddie Condon, "Mezz" Mezzrow and especially "Jelly Roll" Morton, consider- ably more information concerning jazz terms is available, though again, large numbers of terras are ignored. Particu- larly important in these biographies is the employment of jazz terms in a natural manner— exactly as the musician would use them—giving the reader both an authoritative context and a presumably accurate picture of the environment of many of these pioneer Jazzmen. It must be kept in mind, however, that the picture which these men give may be distorted, consciously or unconsciously, in order to suppress certain facts or to make others stand out in their favor, though generally speaking these autobiographies are accurate and give valuable information concerning the background and source of many Jazz terms Jazz critics are another source of material In this field, although their contribution la rather In general historical background than In precise Information concerning early word origins. Generally speaking, also, while he may and often does present information which is accurate, the critic's main concern Is in proving a particular musical point, so that the facts may be slightly shaded one way or the othar to create the particular illusion he desires. The source material for the jargon of Jazz, then, con- sists of: (a) slang dictionaries which give only surface coverage of terms, and neglect for the most part the sources of these words; (b) autobiographies of some musicians, which, though they may be of great aid, are not primarily concerned with either the terms or their backgrounds; and (o) works of jazz critics, which again do not interest themselves primarily in defining terms, but do so only as a means to an end, and as such may not be as precise as one might wish. Thus, though jazz has become enough a part of the American soene to have had some of Its jargon assimilated by the standard speech of this country, the technical attention paid the jargon has been slight. In particular, the etymological study of the jargon of this mu3ic has been negligible. This thesis is an attempt to list and to define accurately the basic terms of this jargon. Purpose and Scope Jazz Jargon is no different from the Jargon of any other trade or profession. Jazz terms, for example, are frequently transitory. Likewise, it is possible for Jazz terms to be sectional, only heard and understood in one particular part of the country. Also, more than moot professional Jargon, that of tho Jazzman is often concerned with life outside the area of the profession, e.g., with eating, sleeping, drinking and nearly every other aspect of life as it concerns the musician. Since only a small amount of research has been done on the Jargon of Jazz, since musloal terms tend to maintain a permanent position In Jazz Jargon, it was felt that a glossary listing only musical terms would be sufficiently useful to readers to be of value. To compile such a basic list, it was thought that the record titles of records by genuine jazzbands would most probably use only terms which would be recognized by the average musician or terms which because of the wide distribution of the phonograph record, would have quickly acquired currency among Jazzmen in practically every section of the country. To obtain such a list of records, lelaunay'a New Hot Elscography was exclusively referred to. This discography lists all the recordings which Delaunay con- siders to have been influential In Jazz over a period of thirty years (1917-1947). Such a limitation in time does not restrict the coverage of the Jargon to any appreciable extent, however, for no jazz records are known to have been produced before 1917 and It la not likely that s great number of terms have appeared since 1947. In addition to listing and explain- ing the terms in the glossary, it is hoped thnt this thesis will encourage an understanding of the problems which jazz music has encountered during its growth and will promote an interest in its colorful history. Finally, it is hoped that this thesis will create an interest in the music itsolf and help to raise it to a respectable level in the minds of people who may now view it with something less than respect. A Definition The terms for the glossary wora chosen exclusively from the titles in a disoography limited to "hot" jazz, and it will now be necessary to define the term "hot." Winthrop Sargeant defines "hot" jazz as being "purely Negroid, more purely improvisatory and comparatively indepen- dent of composed tunes," as compared with "sweet" Jazz, which is the "dance and amusement music of the American people 83 a whole. •* Probably what Sargeant means when he refers to the "purely Negroid" character of jazz is the unusual syncopation of this music, for he believes that "syncopation i3 a basic ^•Winthrop Sargeant, Jazz : Hot and Hybrid (Hew York, 1946), p. 128. " structural Ingredient which permeates the entire musical Idiom and is to be found in every measure of the music. "^ The syncopation of Jazz is of two distinct parts: (1) simple syncopation, or the accenting of beats which are ordinarily unac- cented and (2) "the peculiar super-imposition of conflicting rhythms known as. .. 'polyrhythm. ' 2 T-lmple syncopation is widely knovm, and is very probably of Europeer. origin, but the peculiar type of polyrhythm of Jazz "has been heralded as the true Negro contribution, and as the fundamental and distinguishing element of Jazz rhythm." 3 A definition of this peculiar rhythm, however, would be awkward at best, since Sergeant assures us that "the naked formula... is something that Is usually Implied rather than stated." 4 There are other features of Jazz which are generally believed to be Negroid in character, e.g., the vocal vibrato of the cornet, trombone end clarinet and the distinctive "blue" sound resulting from the unique flatting of the third and seventh notes of the scale. While these latter features are Jazz characteristics, they are not characteristic of all Jazz, since the white man has in some ways altered the basic features of Jazz today. The basic rhythm as was explained by Sergeant remains a fundamental Jazz feature, for without it, the music 1 Ibld ., p. 114. granr.l 3TbT^., p. 55. 4YET3., p. 65. — would no longer bo Jazz. Tha second basic feature of "hot" Jazz Is that of being "purely Improvisatory." This, like the distinctive Jazz rhythm, is and always must be a part of Jazz. Improvisation is playing the way the musician feels, with freedom and without the restraint of written notes an art which European music has lost and which was re- vived in America by the Negroes who play jazz.

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