The Informal Dictionary of Jazz Jargon

**Mark P** · 01-06-2011, 11:55 AM

I've always enjoyed how the world of Jazz is filled with interesting vocabulary used by players to describe other musicians, music, or musical concepts. As an aspiring linguist, I'm always interested in these words, their genesis, and their usage. Waking up this morning, I had the idea to make a thread here in an attempt to compile as much of the jargon used by musicians as possible. I'm aware that many of the members here have extensive experience playing gigs, music, and listening to jazz, and as a result could possess a healthy vocabulary of words they have picked up and used over the past years.

Feel free to throw anything in here you wish, though the more obscure the better! Also, please feel inclined to give us your own definition. If we get enough people in here we can then compare and contrast and see regional/international differences in usage or meaning.

I'm not sure if there are enough words out there to get very far with this thread, but hell, why not?

I'll start us out with two:

Chops - One's ability to play fast

Bad - Used ironically to describe a relatively good musician. (I use relatively in its true sense)

Finally, feel free to correct definitions if you find somebody's to be incorrect!

**mr. beaumont** · 01-06-2011, 12:25 PM

Yes, some of these are intended to be humorous.

Chart: a leadsheet, usually just melody and chords (You got a chart for that?)

Bag: short for "bag of tricks" (a players go to licks) or also used as a catch all for what a player is into (sorry man, Ornette ain't my bag)

Head: the melody of a tune, often played through as bookends to the solos (Back to the head)

Lay out: To not play for a portion of a tune

Comp: short for "accompany" To support a soloist (Jerry, you lay out and just let Paul comp for Charlie)

Diamond: a whole note (diamonds in bars 4-8)

"Two Down"/ "Two up": The keys of Bb and D respectively, "Up" meaning sharps, "Down" meaning flats, sometimes just shown with a handsign. (so "One Down" is the key of F) (Okay, "Rainy Day," three down, 1-2-3-4")

Trap Set/ Skins: Drums. Really, drums are to be called anything but drums.

Horn: usually used for anything you blow into to make music, sometimes even for stuff you don't blow into. (You got your horn?)

Out: Playing out of key intentionally. Usually resolved by playing in.

Clam: A bum note

Clam Chowder: A delicious soup made in both red and white varieties

Scat: To improvise nonsensical syllables with the voice. Usually done by singers who have no business scatting. (see "dwee-ee, shoop-doop dwee-ee-ee-eee")

Blow: To play well, often in a technically dazzling manner

Sit-in: To play with a group you're not normally part of (Shoot Carl, look who's here...Think he'll want to sit in again?)

Call: To suggest a song for playing (You call one, man.)

"I haven't played that song in a long time": Crap. I don't know it. How can I not know that one!?

**Stackabones** · 01-06-2011, 12:40 PM

hip: my awareness of jazz

hype: your awareness of jazz

**ksjazzguitar** · 01-06-2011, 01:00 PM

I once started a "Jazz Guitar Glossary" on my web site - http://www.kevinsmithguitar.com/sub/e_jggloss.php

Maybe I need to add a few entries.

Peace,
Kevin

**fep** · 01-06-2011, 02:16 PM

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

Clam: A bum note

Clam Chowder: A delicious soup made in both red and white varieties

Scat: To improvise nonsensical syllables with the voice. Usually done by singers who have no business scatting. (see "dwee-ee, shoop-doop dwee-ee-ee-eee")

lol

A monster: A great jazz musician

Ears like Dumbo: A musician that is great at playing by ear (for example; "he's got big ears", or "he's got ears like Dumbo")

**BigDaddyLoveHandles** · 01-06-2011, 02:55 PM

What are some of the specific nicknames you use for archtops? I sometimes call it the "doghouse", although I know that usually means a double bass. I also like "the fat lady" as in "dancing with the fat lady".

**mr. beaumont** · 01-06-2011, 03:02 PM

When I brought my Kay to SW Missouri earlier this year, I was told I had a nice "git-box" a lot. But I dunno if that's jazz slang.

**Mark P** · 01-06-2011, 03:10 PM

Great entries mr. beaumont! I'm curious about "Diamond" for whole note, what's that about?

One of my friends calls great players "problems" i.e. "That cat is a problem!"

**mr. beaumont** · 01-06-2011, 03:21 PM

Did you ever see some handwritten charts, where a whole note is drawn with sharper edges (like a football or diamond) to denote the chord at that bar should be played as a whole note, and not a particular note? That's where it comes from.

It comes from the same "rhythmic notation" of showing quarter notes that look like "hockey sticks" and don't pertain to a particular note on the staff...

**newsense** · 01-06-2011, 03:56 PM

Originally Posted by fep

lol

Ears like Dumbo: A musician that is great at playing by ear (for example; "he's got big ears", or "he's got ears like Dumbo")

I once heard Les Paul refer to Mary Ford as having "ears lik a bat".
I felt particularly dumb when I finally realised he was refering to her close harmony abilities and not an aural disfigurement.

**docbop** · 01-06-2011, 04:21 PM

Originally Posted by newsense

I once heard Les Paul refer to Mary Ford as having "ears lik a bat".
I felt particularly dumb when I finally realised he was refering to her close harmony abilities and not an aural disfigurement.

One of my old improv teachers would say "the cat could hear a rat p*&s in cotton" or "the guy had ears down to his pockets".

My favorite was when too many in the class hadn't been practicing teacher would get ticked and say.... "there ain't no MF fairy god mother whose going to come beat the s*&t out of you with a magic wand and make you sound like Miles Davis, you got to practice!.

**Aristotle** · 01-06-2011, 04:27 PM

The Informal Dictionary of Jazz Jargon

Cool.

**Stackabones** · 01-06-2011, 04:38 PM

Originally Posted by BigDaddyLoveHandles

What are some of the specific nicknames you use for archtops? I sometimes call it the "doghouse", although I know that usually means a double bass. I also like "the fat lady" as in "dancing with the fat lady".

I've heard "jazzbox" and "archie".

**jazzguyfromnc** · 01-06-2011, 06:04 PM

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

"I haven't played that song in a long time": Crap. I don't know it. How can I not know that one!?

Yeah that's totally me....

**monk** · 01-06-2011, 06:26 PM

Originally Posted by Mark P

Chops - One's ability to plays fast

Chops=Technique.

Originally a horn players term referring to embouchure, From 1920s slang for mouth or lips, as in "He busted that cat in the chops".

**patskywriter** · 01-06-2011, 06:34 PM

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

Out: Playing out of key intentionally. Usually resolved by playing in.

sometimes "out" can be synonymous with "avant garde."

"cat" = person, usually a man

"axe" = instrument

"bread" = money

"burn" = verb, play with great skill and passion

"smokin'" = adjective referring to a performance played with great skill and passion

"swing" = to play with an engaging rhythm

"take five" = relax for 5 minutes

"in the pocket" = rhythmically speaking, just right

"splode" = male (used by my dad and his friends back in 1930s/40s chicago)

**Mark P** · 01-06-2011, 07:02 PM

Originally Posted by monk

Chops=Technique.

Originally a horn players term referring to embouchure, From 1920s slang for mouth or lips, as in "He busted that cat in the chops".

Interesting! I've always heard it used as such: "He may have chops but he still has a lot to learn" or some other variation.

**cosmic gumbo** · 01-07-2011, 04:36 AM

I thought chops were more about what you got from taking your axe out to the woodshed... So, if you cats are cool, I shall proceed to the

shed...if you can dig it. I want to be a bad motherfucker, who can smoke that groove in the pocket or take it way out. I need to get my gig

together to make more bread. You can't be funky if you don't find the chicken.

**Dad3353** · 01-07-2011, 10:15 AM

Originally Posted by cosmic gumbo

I thought chops were more about what you got from taking your axe out to the woodshed... So, if you cats are cool, I shall proceed to the shed, if you can dig it. I want to be a bad motherfucker, who can smoke that groove in the pocket or take it way out. I need to get my gig together to make more bread. You can't be funky if you don't find the chicken.

Come again, Cosmic..?

I'm afraid I don't quite understand, young man. Can you not just talk normally (was there a a split infinitive in there..?) as others do? (must be the bourbon, or the chowder...)

**ksjazzguitar** · 01-07-2011, 12:32 PM

Yeah, I'd heard the chops=lips thing that later became chops=skills. I've heard it attributed to Armstrong, but I don't know how true that is. But he certainly did use it in the chops=lips sense that the seems to predate the other.

Peace,
Kevin

**monk** · 01-07-2011, 01:07 PM

The horn players seeking to improve their embouchure/technique would say "I gotta work on my chops", the phrase spread through the musical community. Now everyone works on their "chops" regardless of what instrument they play.

**randalljazz** · 01-18-2011, 08:45 AM

not to revive if this has run its course, but a few terms that did not come up in my classical guitar life:

guide tones
drop 2 (etc)
shell chords
spangalang
hack meter

**GodinFan** · 01-18-2011, 09:14 AM

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

Yes, some of these are intended to be humorous.

Chart: a leadsheet, usually just melody and chords (You got a chart for that?)

Diamond: a whole note (diamonds in bars 4-8)

Maybe it's regional variations, but usually I've heard/referred chart as meaning a written arrangement. Usually 'sheet for leadsheet.

And instead of diamond, usually it's Goose eggs for whole notes. I suppose it depends on how neat your hand copyist is.

Taste: either a small adult beverage, or your earnings for the night. e.g. "Let's head out for a little taste at intermission." or "I had to play banjo as well last night, so the leader gave me an extra taste."

Licorice Stick: clarinet

Gloom Tube: clarinet

Black wand of Death: clarinet

**mr. beaumont** · 01-18-2011, 10:51 AM

I think diamond is regional. I've heard "football" too, but not goosegg. Sure it's only a matter of time before I do, in the midwest I get a little of everything!

**docbop** · 01-18-2011, 11:34 AM

Originally Posted by Mark P

Great entries mr. beaumont! I'm curious about "Diamond" for whole note, what's that about?

Also playing footballs. Parts that have a lot of whole notes.

ice cream changes. I VI IV V progression.

Payin due. Playing a lot of entry level/bad gigs to get experience.

Cut session. Hard core Jam sessions which if you don't play well it get mean and nasty.

In the Pocket. Rhythm section being really together.

Ride. Slang for a solo.

Noodlin'. Not paying attention and playing aimlessly. Guitar players are notorious noodlers.

Woodshed. To practice or place to practice.

Whores or Studio sausage. Musicians who play anything for money.