Jive talk

Jive talk was the distinctive slang which developed in Harlem where jive or jazz was played and was subsequently adopted more widely in US society, peaking in the 1940s.^[1] This is also known as the argot of jazz; jazz jargon; vernacular of the jazz world; slang of jazz; parlance of hip; and Harlem jive.^[2]

This was documented in works such as Cab Calloway's Hepster's Dictionary: Language of Jive (1939), which was the first dictionary published by a black person,^[3] and Dan Burley's Original Handbook of Harlem Jive which was compiled and published in 1944 at the suggestion of Harlem poet Langston Hughes.^[4] Besides referring to the music scene, much of the argot related to drugs such as marijuana. For example, Mezz Mezzrow gave this sample:^[5]

SECOND CAT: Hey Mezzie, lay some of that hard-cuttin' mess on me. I'm short of a deuce of blips but I'll straighten you later.

MEZZROW: Righteous, gizz, you're a poor boy but a good boy — now don't come up crummy.

SECOND CAT: Never no crummy, chummy. I'm gonna lay a drape under the trey of knockers for Tenth Street and I'll be on the scene, wearin' the green.

Glossary

Alligator: A devotee of jazz or swing music. Perhaps alludes to sharp-dressing with alligator leather.^[6]
Chops: Noun. Refers to any musician's level of ability. Orginates from the physical changes that occur in a brass player's mouth and lips. E.g., Dizzy Gillespie and Louis Armstrong. Also a term used for a musican who had significantly improved his/her playing. E.g., "I got my chops up". Or, "Has he got the chops to play with this group?" Chops can also refer to general ability in any skill. E.g., "Yo', I found a lawyer who has the chops to get George Shearing a driver's license!"
Frail: Diminutive of "frail sister". Also used as a noun for any hepster woman.
G-man: Government man. Especially ones who arrest or harass peaceful citizens.
Gage: Noun for marijuana. Particularly associated with Louis Armstrong.
Gate: Noun. Any man. usually used as a greeting. "Yo' gate, what's the word from the herd?".
Gatemouth: A hornplayer who has a large mouth or a mouth that is habitually open. Playing brass instruments often results in larger cheeks and a calus on the player's lip. The larger cheeks is the origin of the word "chops". After 1930, however, "Gatemouth" generally referred only to Louis Armstrong. ^[7]
Hep: In the know. Later, hip.
Hep cat: Knowledgeable person. Later, hipster.
High: Happy. See "mellow"
Hoochie Coocher: Hot babe who dances laying down. "Minnie the Moocher was a red , hot HOOCHIE COOCHER." – Cab Calloway
Hoochie coochie: Erotic dance.
Jelly roll: 1) female genitalia, 2) act of coitus. 3) Jelly Roll Morton: a famous stride piano player.
Jitterbug: Swing dance. Same as the Lindy Hop, a dance created in the 1920s and 1930s. Danced to swing and Western Swing.
Jive: The stuff vipers smoked they called "jive" as in "Here Come the Man with the Jive", Likely the smokeable flowers and leaves of the female cannabis plant.
Jive talk: "Whaddya say, gate? Are you in the know, or are you a solid bringer-downer?" – Cab Calloway. "Are you Hep to the Jive" – Cab Calloway.
Light up: To light a stick of T or reefer.
Lid: A Prince Albert tobacco can filled to the lid. Roughly one ounce.
Mellow: Let's all get mellow. Words in the song, "Light Up". Meaning is obscure. Probably means light hearted, calm and happy.
Mighty Mezz: An expertly rolled reefer. Named after Milton Mezz Mezzrow The legendary saxophonist who played with Louis Armstrong. Mr. Mezzrow was close friends of Louis Armstrong. He was also a user of marijuana and a distributor strictly to other musicians that were his friends. Mr. Mezzrow's main source of income was music. Mr. Mezzrow played on some of the finest jazz recordings of his day, as well as acting as the leader on many recording sessions. Mr. Mezzrow was known as the quintessential hipster.
Mop: Noun for woman. Often a reference to another hepster's girlfriend.
Muggles: 1930s and '40s slang for marijuana.
Mugglin': I's a-muggin', you 's a-muggin', meaning getting high on reefer.
Pot: Short name used for the mysterious potted plants that musicians always traveled with in 1930s and '40s.
Puff: to smoke weed.
Reefer: The marijuana plant, aka hemp, pot, ganja, or Cannabis. Refers to the leaf of the plant or a cigarette rolled from the plant (JIVE, STICK OF TEA). See also: Reefer Madness, a 1936 anti-cannabis propaganda film
Reefer man: Some one who uses reefer.
Stick of tea: Joint, reefer, left-handed cigarette.
Stuff: 1) Jive, Muggles, Reefer. 2) Nickname for famous viper, jazz fiddler, "Stuff" Smith, famous viper and composer of viper songs such as If You're a Viper.
"T" or Tea: Marijuana.
Tea pad: in Harlem in the 1930s and 40s, and after-hours club where pot was smoked and jazz music performed.
T-man (Tea-man): Marijuana provider.
Vipers: refers to hep cats from the 1930s who inhaled. And they liked it so much they incorporated it into their life style and sang about it. The singers and songwriters were the best of the time, think: Cab Calloway, Fats Waller, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Billie Holliday, Louie Armstrong, Benny Goodman, and Louie Jordan . They frequented tea pads and smoked jive. Vipers is onomatopoeic from sssssst — the sound made by an inhaling pot-smoker or a snake.

References

^ Oxford English Dictionary, A variety of American English associated with the Harlem area of New York; slang used by American Blacks, or by jazz musicians and their followers. Also attrib., as jive talk.
^ Andrew Clark (2001), "Jazz and language", Riffs & choruses, pp. 459+, ISBN 9780826447562
^ Stephen Calt (2009), Barrelhouse words: a blues dialect dictionary, University of Illinois Press, p. xxi, ISBN 9780252076602
^ Theodore Hamm (2008), "Dan Burley's Original Handbook of Harlem Jive (1944)", The Brooklyn Rail
^ Burton W. Peretti (1994), The Creation of Jazz, University of Illinois Press, pp. 130–134, ISBN 9780252064210
^ Luis Alvarez (2008), The Power of the Zoot, University of California Press, pp. 91–93, ISBN 9780520253018 {{citation}}: Text "The Power of the Zoot" ignored (help)
^ Francis Newton (1960), "Appendix 2 Jazz Language", The Jazz Scene, p. 289+

Glossary

References

Further reading