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A 'rent party' (sometimes called a house party) is a social occasion where tenants hire a musician or band to play and pass the hat to raise money to pay their rent. The rent party played a major role in the development of jazz and blues music. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that the term ''skiffle'' means "rent party", indicating the informality of the occasion. Thus, the word became associated with informal music. However, many notable jazz musicians are associated with rent parties, including pianists Speckled Red, James P. Johnson and Fats Waller, although rent parties also featured bands as well. The ''OED'' also gives ''boogie'' as a term for rent party.
Rent parties were often the location of so-called cutting contests, which involves jazz pianists taking turns at the piano, attempting to out-do each other. The famous ragtime musician Jelly Roll Morton was known for deliberately avoiding these parties.

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Memphis Slim's song "Chicago Rent Party" describes a rent party reminiscently

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★ Rent Party- Jump band formed in the 1980's