jazzbon.

Etymology: Origin uncertain; perhaps < the male forename Jasper, regarded as typical of foolish rustics (see jasper n.²), probably partly influenced by either bo n. or hobo n. In later use probably also influenced by jazz n. (in various senses), although any ultimate relationship with that word is uncertain.The origin and early development of the word is unclear. Its early association with musical theatre and comedy may explain the rapid proliferation of uses relating both to performance and music (or sometimes to musicians as performers of vaudeville comedy). A supposed itinerant blues musician of the late 19th cent. known as Jasbo Brown is apparently a creation of legend. The earliest evidence relating to him is in a 1919 anecdote intended to explain the origin of the word jazz n.:1919 in Ethnomusicology 12 (1968) 374 Five years ago..'Jasbo' Brown and five other alleged musicians..dispensed ‘melody’ largely for the benefit of Sam Hare's patrons...Patrons offered Jasbo more and more gin. First it was the query ‘More, Jasbo?’ directed at the darky's thirst; then the insistence ‘More, Jasbo!’ directed at the darky's music, and then just plain ‘more jazz!’He is subsequently referred to in titles of poetry and music, most prominently in D. Heyward's poem Jasbo Brown (in American Mercury (Sept. 1925) 7-9; compare D. Heyward Jasbo Brown and Selected Poems (1931)) and the Jasbo Brown Blues opening the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess. For a discussion of the name and its relationship to the word jazz n. see Ethnomusicology 12 (1968) 373-96. Jasbo was also used as a forename or nickname by other people (not necessarily connected with music: compare sense 1), but is apparently not recorded before 1914. The Jasbos is recorded as the nickname of a ten-pin bowling team early in 1914:1914 Newark (Ohio) Advocate 17 Feb. 3 In a ten-pin match last night on Wilson's alleys, the Imperials won from a team called the Jasbos by 263 pins. Marshall and Jean Stearns' 1968 book Jazz Dance mentions a song called the Bullfrog Hop (by P. Bradford), apparently composed in the period around 1909, containing Jazzbo Glide , the name of an unsuccessful jazz dance step. However, contemporary published evidence is lacking, and a 1918 version uses the words Mobile Glide instead. In sense 3 in form jazz beau punningly after beau n. In sense 4 perhaps on account of the association of jazz music with the African-American community.