Andy Senior: In my column last month (“Genre Fluid”), I reflected on the purported offensiveness of the word “jazz,” and cited, without commentary, some rather dodgy etymology offered by a musician of some eminence. I understood that the derivation offered was nonsense, but I didn’t feel it was my place to challenge it. Instead, I considered that my readers would see it as spurious and respond accordingly.
Fred Hoeptner, renowned ragtime historian and composer (and 2022 recipient of the Scott Joplin Ragtime Foundation’s Outstanding Achievement Award), rose to the occasion to debunk the agenda-driven libel of a word we cannot possibly live without:
Origin of the Word “Jazz” Was Neither Carnal Nor Racist by Fred Hoeptner
Editor Andy Senior in his June 2022 “Static from My Attic” delves into the etymology of the word “jazz.” He cites an article from theGrio.com by Matthew Allen who writes, “Does jazz need a rebrand? Why the genre’s greatest icons resented the word ‘jazz.’” Allen quotes jazz musician T.S. Monk, who contends, “Jazz comes from the French word jas, which means ‘whore.’ It’s about whorehouses. They played in the jas houses.”
Additionally Senior quotes Allen who cites a group of well-known musicians who reject the term outright, contending “It’s racist. Many of these luminaries have stated that the term ‘jazz’ is derive
