Klarinet Archive - Posting 001062.txt from 1998/05

From: Kenneth Wolman <kwolman@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Jazz
Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 21:32:29 -0400

>>I read somewhere that the word "jazz" derives from an old african
>>word pronounced "Jass" which means 'excitement' or 'exciting'. Can anyone
>>else confirm this?
>>
>The "Original Dixieland Jass Band" started out spelling it that way, but
>the etymology of the term is unclear.

Is this where a literature background comes in handy? I suspect the word
has origins somewhat on the crude side. In James T. Farrell's _Studs
Lonigan_ trilogy, the title character at one point meditates (if you want
to call it that) on how awful it would be to die "while you were jazzing
your girl." Ahem.

Ken

"The East River. But it was not a river at all. Merely a column of water
connecting the upper harbor to the Sound. Yet everyone called it a river.
They chose not to think about it. They clung to the surface of things."
--Peter Quinn, "Banished Children of Eve"
Ken Wolman kwolman@-----.com/SoHo/Gallery/1649

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