THEORIES  Origins of the word jazz are hazy and theories abound. In its original connotation, jazz was jass.  Yes, it was. Until the ODJB changed it's spelling from Jass to Jazz because kids would scratch off the J on their posters so it said ass Band:D     Perhaps African Americans coined the term themselves to describe their music during its formative years,    Ahhh...perhaps huh? Perhaps not. I like to deal in facts not speculation, fact is...the first real Jazz band was White and even Louis Armstrong admitted it:D The first band to call themselves a Jass band was the ODJB. That's a matter of fact.;)     Or maybe the word, like many others, takes it meaning from its sound or its sound from its meaning for that matter.   maybe maybe maybe...the world may just never know. I think they just thought it sounded cool, IMO.    One thing about the word jazz is certain. No two people, whether they be writers, historians, musicians, or fans, will agree on exactly what it means or where it came from.   Ahh...I see.    CONTROVERSY  Although jazz is performed by musicians of many colors and melds together elements of many kinds of music, it is essentially African American Music. Interwoven with jazz's history is the history of the black experience in America.    Says...a Jewish or Black musicologist? ;)    The term jazz was initially applied to largely African American music mostly by white writers.   Um...no, the ODJB were a group of all White guys who had been referring to themselves as a Jass band since 1909, according to Louis Armstrong if you want to believe him;)   And over the years, many white musicians have made more money from the music than its black inventors.   It's Black inventors...uh huh..prove it..ohh you can't! :p Just because some Black or Jewish jerk off SAYS so doesn't make it true.   Most of jazz's innovators have been African American - Buddy Bolden, Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Ornette Coleman   just to name a few.     Well, this is quite obviously a very biased article. Sounds pretty ethno-centric and anti-White to me. I would looove to know the ethnicity of the writer...I bet I can guess... But obviously many of the most influential Jazz musicians were Black. By the way, Miles Davis copied most of his style from White guys like Bill Evans and Bix Beiderbecke:D He said himself that he got his cool sound from studying Bix Beiderbecke who was one of his favorites and by working with Bill Evans.    By the mid -'20s, the word jazz began to show up in diverse writings about the music and the times. Prior to that , some of the earliest jazz was know as Ragtime, due its ragged rhythms as will be explained later in the coming articles.    Ragtime was not Jazz, ragtime was ragtime:rolleyes: The word Jazz was used long before the 1920s. Seriously now, the ODJB called themselves a Jazz band and they were recording as early as 1917, Louis Armstrong said they formed way back in 1909. I deal in facts and you deal in biased speculation, just the facts man, just the facts...:) And the facts is...first known band to call themselves Jass..ODJB. First band to record Jazz, ODJB. The earliest known and recorded form of Jazz music? Dixieland, and who invented Dixieland and who is it named after? ODJB. First band to popularize jazz around America and Europe and start the Jazz Age?, ODJB. First true Jazz band? ODJB, according to Louis Armstrong at least...  Whatever you think is true.