In 2011, Alex Heitlinger, a senior at New England Conservatory, uploaded the video ‘The Lick’ to YouTube. The 1′34″ compilation excerpted a range of performances that each deployed the same seven-note ‘lick’. This article explores the digital dissemination of videos and memes that feature the Lick, suggesting its function as a mimetic device users can deploy to signal their belonging and individuality within a larger jazz community. The Lick, in its formulaic deployment within these ‘insider’ spaces, moves away from improvisation and becomes a calling card for performers and listeners alike to determine a legitimate participant, on and offline. The Lick's online proliferation becomes a gimmick through its repetition, pointing to its hyper-presence and complaints about the excessive posts of the Lick becoming recycled into over-repeated jokes. I argue the Lick serves as the basis for a study of humour and gimmickry in jazz identity formation.

中文翻译：

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病毒、模因和 Lick 通过在线爵士乐社区传播

2011 年，新英格兰音乐学院大四学生亚历克斯·海特林格 (Alex Heitlinger) 将视频“The Lick”上传到 YouTube。1′34″ 的合辑摘录了一系列演奏，每个演奏都采用了相同的七音符“lick”。本文探讨了以 Lick 为特色的视频和模因的数字传播，表明其作为模仿设备的功能，用户可以部署以表明他们在更大的爵士乐社区中的归属感和个性。Lick 在这些“内部”空间中的公式化部署中，不再是即兴创作，而是成为表演者和听众等人的名片，以确定在线和离线的合法参与者。Lick 的在线扩散通过其重复成为一种噱头，指出它的过度存在和对 Lick 过多帖子的抱怨被回收成过度重复的笑话。