[ra-wi]

The term “jazz” originated from a specific instrument known as a “gut bucket,” which is a precursor to the washboard. Musicians would use the gut bucket to keep time and rhythm by hitting it with a cloth-covered stick. The gut bucket’s original nickname was “jazz”, which was later adopted as the name for the lively, improvisational music style that emerged around the late 1800s and early 1900s. The term was eventually published in a Sidney Bechet song title “Jazzin’ Around” in 1917. The spelling then settled around “jazz” in 1919, when the Official Encyclopedia of Jazz mentioned the term.