moldy fig

moldy fig

Someone who adopts the puristic stance that the only "true" jazz music occurred during an earlier period of the genre's history, especially before the implementation of sheet music. The term can either be derogatory or used as an identifying term by like-minded purists. Jazz is all about experimentation, evolution, and deviation, man—that's what makes it jazz! Moldy figs like you who think it shouldn't ever change are missing the point! I hope there will forever be a section of moldy figs out there who appreciate the traditional style of jazz that I perform with my bandmates.
See also: fig
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

moldy fig

n. an old-fashioned person; a square. Don’t be a moldy fig! Lighten up!
See also: fig
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • opposed to
  • opposed to (someone or something)
  • seeing is believing
  • profile
  • a high profile
  • high profile
  • dynamite
  • boom goes the dynamite
  • twinkie
  • domino theory
References in periodicals archive
Modern jazz performers, in turn, coined the pejorative term "moldy fig" to designate prebop performers whose time, they judged, had passed.
'Jazz and I Get Born Together' - Louis Armstrong at 100
While the jazz wars of past eras were often divided on Armstrong--the beboppers initially disdained him, while he was upheld by the revivalist "moldy figs"--his greatness is now acknowledged by everyone from Wynton Marsalis to Lester Bowie.
Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant Life
Thus a 52nd Street "jazz war" was perceived between the beboppers and the traditionalists, categorically termed "moldy figs." In reality such a competition between older and younger musicians was not as contested as the jazz press portrayed; Burke points out mutual respect among older and younger musicians.
Come In and Hear the Truth: Jazz and Race on 52nd Street