Barrelhouse
a cheap saloon, especially one in New Orleans in the early part of the 20th century: so called from the racks of liquor barrels originally placed along the walls.
a vigorous style of jazz originating in the barrelhouses of New Orleans in the early part of the 20th century.
noun
(US) a cheap and disreputable drinking establishment
a vigorous and unpolished style of jazz for piano, originating in the barrelhouses of New Orleans
(as modifier): barrelhouse blues
n.
“cheap saloon, often with an associated brothel,” by 1875, American English, so called in reference to the barrels of beer or booze typically stacked along the wall. See barrel (n.) + house (n.).
Q. What was this place you rented? — A. It was a room adjoining a barrel-house.
Q. What is a barrel house? — A. It is a room where barrels of whisky are tapped, a very inferior kind of whisky, and the whisky is sold by the glassful right out of the barrel. It is a primitive coffee house. [Committee Report of the 43rd Congress, Select Committee on Conditions of the South, 1874-75]
modifier
: barrelhouse jazz/ barrelhouse beat
noun
A cheap saloon, esp one in combination with a brothel: Barrelhouse kings, with feet unstable (1880s+)
A jazz style marked by strong beat and ensemble improvisation; also, music in this style (1920s+ Jazz musicians)
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