Spirit of Jazz

"My hat's on fire!"

- The Spirit realizes his hat was smoking all along

"I'll wear you like a glove!"

- The Spirit's threat to Howard Moon - one of his most famous quotes

The Spirit of Jazz is one of the main antagonists of The Mighty Boosh series. He is played mainly by Noel Fielding.

Origins
The Spirit's origins are said to have been that of Howlin' Jimmy Jefferson, a folk guitarist who became a demonic spirit after death and could do deals with mortals.

The appearance of the Spirit is heavily based on the legend of Robert Johnson, who was a folk singer who became incredibly famous overnight and was rumoured to have met a dark deity or some sort of African trickster god which gave him his fame. The Spirit of Jazz likes to appear similar to Baron Samedi with black and white skull makeup and long dreadlocks. He dresses very elegantly, in an all white suit, black shirt and white tie.

Season 1
When Howard is struggling to make ends meet, he contemplates rock as a route to fame and when he blows his trumpet, and suddenly the Spirit appears looking eerie in a flaming top hat. He reminds him of an old deal that Howard made with him many years ago when he was younger so Howard would be an immortal musician. The Spirit says he's no one important when Howard asks his identity, but then he says that all the paintings in the bar feature great musicians, all of which the Spirit helped make their claims to fame. The Spirit tempts Howard with promises of being even more famous than them. Howard eagerly accepts, asking if he signs the deal in blood, but the Spirit hands him a pen and says it's unnecessary. When Howard foolishly just notices the part about owning souls, the Spirit snickers and says he now owns Howard's soul forever and he'll "wear him like a glove!" He keeps saying this, scaring Howard, but then the Spirit is about to leave before he notices his hat had been on fire throughout the whole meeting. He complains about this, saying how come Howard never told him. Howard said he thought it was just the Spirit's "look" and believed it was supernatural fire, but the Spirit berated the loss of his hat saying it was a very expensive hat, and Howard now owed him a favour.

Afterward, Howard tells Naboo about his problems, and Naboo hands him a picture of kittens to calm him down whenever problems strike. For awhile this works but Howard can't take his mind off the problems forever. So when Naboo tells him to summon the Spirit, Naboo traps the Spirit of Jazz in a hoover, pissing him off. The possessed hoover roams the zoo, and eventually finds its way onstage, where it sneaks in through Howard's trousers, possessing him, causing his face to become that of the Spirit's for a second or two and then, when possessed, Howard rips off all his clothing to everyone's amusement. The Spirit then leaves him alone.

Season 3
The Spirit of Jazz returns when he tries to invade Howard's body, causing Vince to shrink himself down with Naboo's help to banish the Spirit of Jazz's cell from Howard. Eventually they are successful and when Vince drags the cell out of Howard, he enlarges it then pricks the Spirit with a pin. He walks away complaining and then trips out the door of Naboo's place.

Trivia

 * The Spirit of Jazz is one of the more recognizable villains of The Mighty Boosh.
 * He continues the trend of successful musicians being Faustian deal makers, seen in Tenacious D and Supernatural.