Before the 1950s::
About Jazz:: Here is some jazz phrases that I like or found funny. There are a lot more than what I have in here, but all of them would be too many, and a lot of them, you just don't here any more.
The Apple --- New York city.
Axe --- An instrument.
Baby --- A term of endearment.
Bag --- A person's particular interest.
Balloon lungs --- A brass man with plenty of wind.
Beat --- Exhausted or tired.
Birdbrain --- A Charlie Parker imitator.
Blow --- A jazzman's term for playing any instrument.
The Bomb --- Very cool.
Boogie Woogie --- An early piano blues form that was popularized in Chicago. The term has sexual overtones.
Bread --- A jazzman's word for money.
Bug --- To annoy or bewilder.
Burnin --- Used to describe a particularly emotional or technically excellent solo.
Cats --- Folks who play jazz music.
Changes --- Chord progression.
Character --- An interesting, out of the ordinary person.
Chick --- A young and pretty girl.
Chops --- The ability to play an instrument, a highly refined technique. Also refers to a brass players facial muscles.
Clams --- Mistakes while playing music.
Combo --- Combination of musicians that varies in size from 3 to 10.
Cool --- A restrained approach to music. A superlative which has gained wide acceptance outside of jazz.
Crib --- Same as pad.
Dark --- Angry or upset (used in the Midwest).
Dig --- To know or understand completely.
Drag --- As a verb - to depress or bring down a person's spirits or, as a noun - a person or thing which depresses.
Finger Zinger --- Someone who plays very fast.
Flip --- A verb meaning to go crazy or a noun meaning an eccentric.
Flip your lid --- Same as "Blow your top."
Fly --- Smooth or slick.
Funky --- Earthy or down-to-earth.
Get Down --- To play or dance superlatively with abandon.
Gig --- A paying job.
Goof --- Fail to carry out a responsibility or wander in attention.
Groovy --- Used in the fifties to denote music that swings or is funky. For a short while in the sixties, groovy was synonymous with cool. The word has been used little since the seventies.
Head or Head Arrangement --- An arrangement of a song that is not written, but remembered by the band members (the tune and progression to improvise on).
Hip --- A term used to describe someone who knows or understands. Originally "hep" until the 40's or 50's.
Hipster --- A follower of the various genres of bop jazz in the 50's. These were the precursors of hippies in the 60's.
Horn --- Any instrument (not necessarily a brass or reed instrument).
Hot --- A term once used to describe "real" jazz. Replaced as a superlative by "cool" in the late 40's or early 50's..
In the Mix --- Put it together, make it happen.
In the Pocket --- Refers to the rhythm section being really together
Jam --- To improvise.
Jam Session --- A group of jazz players improvising.
Jazz --- The music which is discussed here. May have come from the French jaser - to chatter. May have come from Jasbo Brown - a dancer.
Jive --- A versatile word which can be used as a noun, verb or adjective. Noun - an odd form of speech. Verb - to fool someone. Adjective - phoney or fake.
JAMF - Jive A-- Mother F----R. Someone who is not thought highly of.
Junk --- Heroin.
Lame --- Something that doesn't quite cut it.
Licks --- An early term for phrase or solo.
Licorice Stick --- Clarinet
Muggles --- One nickname for marijuana used by early Jazzmen (Armstrong has a song by this title).
Noodlin' -- To just play notes that have no particular meaning to a tune or solo.
Pad --- House, home, apartment or bed.
Popsicle Stick --- A sax player's reed.
Rusty Gate --- Someone who can't play.
Sackbut --- The Sackbut was a 16th century instrument, similar to the trombone.
Scat --- Improvise lyrics as nonsense syllables. Said to have originated on the "Hot Five" song "Heebie Jeebies" when Louis Armstrong dropped his lyrics.
Scene --- A place or atmosphere.
Screwin' the Pooch --- Really bad mistakes while playing music.
Smokin' --- Playing your butt off.
Solid --- A swing-era superlative which is little used today.
Split --- To leave.
Square --- A somewhat outmoded term meaning unknowing which can be a noun or a verb.
Supermurgitroid --- really cool. (okay, who really used this? Come on…)
Swing --- to get a rocking or swaying beat.
Tag --- Used to end the tune, repeating the last phrase three times.
Train Wreck --- Event during the playing of a tune when the musicians "disagree" on where they are in the form (i.e. someone gets lost), so the chord changes and the melody may get confused for several bars, but depending on the abilities of the musicians (it happens to the best of them), there are usually no fatalities and the journey continues.
