The word “jazz” has been cited in baseball in Los Angeles, Californina, in 1912 and in San Francisco, California, in 1913. The term went to Chicago (probably by Bert Kelly) in 1914, and “jazz band” was cited in the Chicago (IL) Tribune in 1915. From Chicago, the word “jazz” went to New Orleans and New York City.
 
However, the birth of jazz music has been credited to the city New Orleans, from the 1890s. “New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz” was printed in The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA) on May 11, 1919. “Birthplace of Jazz” has been a popular New Orleans nickname, especially during music festivals.
 
Other New Orleans nicknames include “America’s Most Interesting City,” “Baghdad-on-the-Bayou,” “Big Crescent,” “Big Easy,” “Big Greasy,” “Big Sleazy,” “Chocolate City,” “Chopper City,” “City of a Million Dreams,” “City of Yes,” “City That Care Forgot,” “City That Forgot to Care,” “Convention City,” “Crawfish Town,” “Creole City,” “Crescent City,” “Erb City,” “Gateway of the Mississippi Valley,” “Gumbo City,” “Hollywood South,” “Jump City,” “Mardi Gras City,” “Metropolis of the South,” “N’Awlins,” “Necropolis of the South,” “Nerlins,” “No Orleans” (after Hurricane Katrina), “NOLA,” “Northernmost Banana Republic,” “Northernmost Caribbean City,” “Old Swampy,” “Paris of America,” “Queen City,” “Saint City,” “Silicon Bayou,” “Silicon Swamp” and “Sweet Lady Gumbo.”
     
     
Wikipedia: New Orleans
New Orleans (/nuː ˈɔːrlᵻnz, -ˈɔːrli.ənz, -ɔːrˈliːnz/, or /ˈnɔːrlᵻnz/; French: La Nouvelle-Orléans [la nuvɛlɔʁleɑ̃] ( listen)) is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The population of the city was 343,829 as of the 2010 U.S. Census. The New Orleans metropolitan area (New Orleans–Metairie–Kenner Metropolitan Statistical Area) had a population of 1,167,764 in 2010 and was the 46th largest in the United States. The New Orleans–Metairie–Bogalusa Combined Statistical Area, a larger trading area, had a 2010 population of 1,452,502.
(...)
The largest of the city’s many music festivals is the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Commonly referred to simply as “Jazz Fest”, it is one of the largest music festivals in the nation, featuring crowds of people from all over the world, coming to experience music, food, arts, and crafts.
   
New Orleans Official Guide
Birthplace of Jazz
In the late 19th century, while the rest of America was stomping their feet to military marches, and New Orleans was dancing to VooDoo rhythms.
 
New Orleans was the only place in the New World where slaves were allowed to own drums. VooDoo rituals were openly tolerated, and well attended by the rich as well as the poor, by blacks and whites, by the influential and the anonymous. It was in New Orleans that the bright flash of European horns ran into the dark rumble of African drums; it was like lightning meeting thunder. The local cats took that sound and put it together with the music they heard in churches and the music they heard in barrooms, and they blew a new music, a wild, jubilant music.
         
11 May 1919, The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA), “Times-Picayune Cartoon Inspires Local Composer,” pg. B-4, col. 6:
New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz, has a double claim of the latest hit of the ragtime world, “The Axman’s Jazz,” by Joseph Jphn Davilla, a local composer, which will soon be placed on the market with words attached.
 
1 June 1921, Rockford (IL) Republic, pg. 13, col. 3:
MISSISSIPPI RIVER BIRTHPLACE OF JAZZ
(...)
New Orleans was the home of jazz music, and New Orleans is the home of the Louisiana Red Devils, who are now playing the dance music on the new pleasure steamer, “City of Rockford.”
   
14 August 1921, New Orleans (LA) Item, “The Triumphs of Ada Isaacs Menken,” The Item Magazine, pg. 3, col. 1:
Ada was born in Milneburg, our own suburban village, which is also credited with being the birthplace of jazz music.
   
23 January 1930, The Montana Standard (Butte, MT), pg. 14, col. 3 ad:
Direct From Tranchina’s Famois Nite Club
New Orleans, Louisiana
(Down Among the Sugar Cane)
THE BIRTHPLACE OF JAZZ MUSIC
(Winter Garden.—ed.)
 
Google Books
The Book of Jazz, from then till now
By Leonard Feather
New York, NY: Dell Publishing Co., Inc.
1976
Pg. 39:
How about this legend about New Orleans being the birthplace of jazz?
 
Google Books
All the Years of American Popular Music
By David Ewen
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall
1977
Pg. 131:
WAY DOWN YONDER IN NEW ORLEANS, THE BIRTHPLACE OF JAZZ
Pg. 132:
If any single place can be pinpointed to be the birthplace of jazz it is New Orleans, even though the music was not yet known by that name.
 
OCLC WorldCat record
New Orleans, New Orleans, birthplace of jazz.
Author: Masinter, Shirley Rabe, 1932-
Publisher: 1984.
Edition/Format:   Downloadable visual material : Graphic : English
Database: WorldCat
Summary:
Memorabilia of New Orleans, Louisiana. Oil on canvas
 
OCLC WorldCat record
New Orleans : birthplace of jazz.
Publisher: New Orleans, La. : Express Pub. Co., [1991?] Oc.
Edition/Format:   Print book : English
Subjects
New Orleans (La.)—Pictorial works.
New Orleans (La.)—Description and travel.
Travel.
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Making the “Birthplace of Jazz”: Tourism and Musical Heritage Marketing in New Orleans
Author: J. Mark Souther
Edition/Format: Article Article : English
Publication: Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association, v44 n1 (20030101): 39-73
Database: JSTOR Arts & Sciences V Collection
 
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9:17 AM - 7 Aug 2015