Jazz 'Cat'

[Markyboy]

Perhaps a very silly question, but does anybody have an idea when and why jazz musicians started to call themselves 'Cats'?

[Banksia]

The word cat meaning jazz player or enthusiast is first recorded from 1931, although in Black American dialect it existed in the 1920s. Perhaps because they are night creatures. Possibly, since being a jazz musician was considered a very low-class occupation in many circles, it may come from "stray cats."

[philipmgibson]

One explanation I've read is that it was because they played in "cathouses".