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From the London ?Weekly Dispatch' of January 28 1917 (p3 col 1) (1):
?"JOSS BANDS" AND "THE TODDLE"
Latest Midnight Diversion of New York
American society is always on the alert for new sensations. The latest is to employ what is known as a "joss band" for the after-midnight dancing.
The joss bands are composed of men who are found in opium dens ("dope holes", they are called), musicians who have sunk to the depths through drugs. Their music is, as an American woman recently arrived in London described it, "a wild orgy of sound".
The latest dance to this music is known as the "Toddle" and is a swaying, stamping sort of one-step.'
There are, I believe, several variant spellings of ?jazz', but ?joss' doesn't seem to be one that's recognised.
While I know next to nothing about jazz, searches suggest that 1917 is the generally accepted first year of jazz (with the first recording by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band). Since that recording was only issued in March 1917 (2), that would appear to make the British press singularly well informed about transatlantic doings!

The 'dope' reference ties in, I suspect, with something of a moral panic in Britain at the time concerning narcotics.
(1) http://www.uk.olivesoftware.com/
(2) http://members.aol.com/ODJBjazz/presentodjb.html