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Milt Gabler was born in Harlem, May 20, 1911, the eldest of sixchildren. He said he fell in love with jazz at a dance at SilverBeach in the Bronx in the late 20's or early thirties. He worked forhis father at a hardware store on 42nd Street while a student atStuyvesant H.S. He talked his father into installing a recorddepartment in his radio shop which quickly became the Commodore MusicShop, the first jazz specialist store.
Circa 1933, at the bottom of the depression, he had reissued a fewJack Teagarden items from the old ARC* dime store labels on theCommodore label. He also ordered special re-pressings of out-of-printVocallion records by Pinetop Smith, Romeo Nelson, etc. When ARCpressed beyond his special-orders for sale to Commodore'scompetitiors, he started the UHCA label. UHCA meant United Hot Clubsof America, which really didn't exist (but was a good idea). UHCAeventually went beyond re-issuing jazz classics from Paramount,Gennett, Okeh, Columbia, etc. to unearthing valuable unissuedmaterial by early jazz masters.
When ARC discontinued the Okeh label in 1935, Gabler bought most ofthe inventory for a dime each (which many years later resulted in hisbeing saluted as a Man of Distinction in a beautiful whiskey ad witha mint Bix Okeh 78.). You could still buy such items across thecounter at the Commodore in the 40's.
TheN.Y.Times obit reminds us that Gabler was famous for"talking customers out of spending more mponey for records than hethought they could afford." I recall a very old article about himwhere the guy on the customer side of this kind of advice was thePrince of Wales, a very hip royal for whom a 20's jazz standard wasnamed.
On January 17, 1938, Eddie Condon led a contingent of great jazzmeninto the Brunswick studio where Bobby Hackett, Geprge Brunies, PeeWee Russell, Bud Freeman, Jess Stacy, Artie Shapiro and GergeWettling cut the first records soon to be released on the Commodorelabel.
A few months later Jack Teagarden replaced Brunis for anothersession. Other sessions led by Freeman, Stacy followed, including acomedy record featuring Evertt Sloane, Bud Freeman and Minerva Pious(Mrs. Nussbaum of the Fred Allen radio show) parodying Noel Coward'sPrivate Lives. It was called Private Jives.
The oft-repeated formula for a jazz label is expressed in a BudFreeman original, "Tappin' The Commodore Till". Several record storeshad issued material from Broadway shows on labels such as LibertyMusic Shop, Rabson's, etc. (They had a particular liking for LeeWiley's vocals and frequently used great jazzmen such as Stacy,Freeman, Fats Waller and Joe Bushkin, etc. as accompanists) ButCommodore concentrated strictly on hot jazz, tho they eventuallysuccumbed to Lee Wiley's vocal charms. Soon HRS (Hot Record Shop),Musicraft, Keynote, and eventually Wax, Prestige and Riverside hadtheir beginning in a retail location. Jazz Man & Dial on the WestCoast, Seymour's in Chicago and Delmark in St.Louis followedsuit.
But don't get the idea that Commodore was strictly a trad label.Listen to the Mel Powell material (including Benny Goodman akaShoeless Joe Jackson), the wonderful Lester Young KC5 &6 sessions(inaugurated with another purchase from Vocallion), the ColemanHawkins, Sidney Bechet, deParis Brothers. Ben Webster, Edmund Hall,Teddy Wilson, Hot Lips Page (with Don Byas) and the brace of Willie"The Lion" Smith albums indicate the breadth of his interest,stretching the minds of those who only listen to "dixieland" andhopefully indicating that modern jazz fans could do worse than to tapinto the Commodore till.
One of the most important contributions made by Commodore was itsrelease of the famous Stange Fruit Billie Holiday session when ARCwas afraid to release it due to the lyrics (about lynching)**. (Ialways understood that Brunswick had done the session, were afraid toreleaseStrange Fruitbut sold the whole session to Gabler,but the obituaries all say that Gabler produced the session.) Thiscould have been why Billie signed with Commodore when herBrunswick/CBS contract ran out.
The obits also state that Gabler was one of the first to makerecordings of Broadway shows. He is also credited with writing theHot Discography, an invaluable tool for the jazz collector inthose times when very few historical jazz performances wereavailable, but this was a project of Charles Delaney whose firstedition appeared in France in the 30's. However, Gabler did sponsorthe post-war edition in the U.S. in 1946, and it is true that he wasthe first to print band personnels on record labels.
The Commodore was a meeting place for anyone interested in jazz andone of the store's unheralded contributions to jazz history tookplace after hours when Gene Williams edited the first jazz maagazinein the US:Jazz Information. (DownbeatandMetronome were, at that time, devoted to pop music, gave as muchspace to the Freddy Martins and Sammy Kayes as to the Benny Goodmansand Duke Ellingtons -- little coverage to combo jazz and virtuallynone to blues.) This led to the publicaiton ofJazzmenandthe Jazz Record Book, the U.S. jazz books. (The discovery of BunkJohnson occurred during the writing ofJazzmen.)
Jelly Roll Morton did his last recording sessions for the Generallabel, a sideline of a better-than-average recording studio. When theowner became more interested in improving the recording process hesold Milt the General masters, consisting of a dozen each of pianosolos and band sessions (featuring Red Allen, Albert Nicholas, etc.)by Morton, a nice session by neglected clarinet great Joe Marsala(with Bill Coleman and Pete Brown), as well as an album of partysongs by Madame Spivey (immortalized in the film: Rod Serling'sRequium For A Heavyweight, starring Anthony Quinn.)
Albums by the Almanac Singers (Pete Seeger,et al) appeared onCommodore long before a viable folk movement began, foreshadowing hislater activity at Decca with Josh White.
When CBS bought ARC in 1938 they did not acquire the Brunswick andVocallion trade marks which, with all the pre-1932 masters, had beenretained by Warner Brothers. Legal action eventually followed withthe result that Decca picked up the Warner Bros. rights. Gabler, whohad been pressing some of these masters on UHCA, was eventuallyplaced in charge of a reissue series on the resurgent Brunswicklabel. 78 rpm albums by King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Johnny Dodds,Louis Armstrong, Jimmy Noone, Jelly Roll Morton, Pinetop Smith, BingCrosby, Wilmouth Houdini, Red Nichols, as well as anthologies ofBoogie Woogie (Speckled Red, Romeo Nelson, Montana Taylor, etc.), HotPiano (Mary Lou Williams, Frank Melrose, Alex Hill, James P.Johsnon), and American Folk Miusic (including a few sides by Memphisbluesman Furry Lewis.) The series was annotated by various jazzexperts including Gene Williams, William Russell, and Alan Lomax.
Eventually Milt Gabler's work at Decca took more and more of his timeas he rose in the executive ranks there. After the wartime recordban, Decca picked up Milt's talent roster virtually intact: BillieHoliday, Eddie Heywood and Eddie Condon. (Condon, however, continuedsupervising sessions for Commodore by Miff Mole, Brunis, Pee Wee, andthe magnificent Wild Bill Davison.) Commodore acquired the Town Hallconcert performances by Stuff Smith, Gene Krupa, etc. produced by thevery colorful Baron Timmie Rosenkratz. Frank Foster and Frank Wessdid the last Coimmodore sessions in the early 50's by which timeGabler had no time for the label.
But the label was revived in the mid-50's headed by Gabler'sson-in-law, Jack Crystal, (that's Billy Crystal's father!) whomanaged the shop and was also busy with the legendary Central PlazaSunday night jam sessions.
The Commodore catalog was usually available in the UK on the Londonlabel, and subsequent reissues appeared on Mainstream and onCommodore labels produced by Columbia's Special Products division andlater by a firm involved with Chicago's Rose Record store.
Most recently there was a marvelous box by Mosaic of all theCommodore masters, including some startling sessions somehow neverissued before.
At Decca, Gabler was the first to record Louis Armstrong with EllaFitzgerald. He also produced pop records by Peggy Lee, the Ink Spots,and Bill Haley (incl. "Rock Around The Clock"), The Weavers, and manyothers. Milt eventually wound up in the executive suite at Decca andsurvived the merger with MCA to become chairman of the board. A fewyears ago he sold the Commodore masters to what is now UniversalRecords.
At the age of 90, Milt Gabler died July 20, 2001, survived by hiswife Estelle, a son, two daughters, two sisters, a brother, fivegrandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and a grateful world of jazzfans and musicians.
Thanks for everything, Mr. Gabler, and (personally) for that recordshop/label formula. Milt Gabler's contributions go far beyond eventhe splendid Commodore catalog.
I love the quote in theNew Yorker "...New Orleans was thecradle, we were the iron lung" (of jazz).
(The New York Times, Chicago Tribune and liner notes of the wonderfulMosaic Records box set contributed to the collation of thisarticle.)
-Bob Koester
