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6 JAZZ
Let's start sorting it out the lazy way, by going to the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (Third Edition). Here we find that jazz is "a kind of music in syncopated time, as played by negro bands in U.S." That's all right as far as it goes. The origin of jazz is with the American negro. But 'as played by negro bands' doesn't rule out the possibility that white bands can also play it.
Can we get a bit further by examining the word itself? Some say that the word "jazz" was first used to describe an "unsteady gait"—or the sort of mixed-up motion that you meet in jive or rock 'n roll dancing. As a very early jazz number puts it:
01' man Johnson's jazzin' around,
Don't push him don't touch him
Or he'll fall to de ground.
He's sho' to be late
'Kase he can't walk straight—
He's jus' jazzin' around. Other critics tell us that "jazz" (or "jass", as it was once spelt) comes from the French 'jaser' meaning 'to gossip'. The cradle of jazz was the city of New Orleans, and here French was the language of the white people. Gossiping implies improvisation; when you gossip or have a conversation, you don't plan it all out beforehand. You get together in a small band of acquaintances and express your feelings naturally. As soon as the gathering grows too large or too formal, the true flavour of conversation is lost. And as soon as you try to write conversation down, it seems as |
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