Milt Gabler Papers
name: label: Creator
content: Armstrong, Lucille
label: Creator
content: Bechet, Sidney, 1897-1959
label: Creator
content: Armstrong, Louis, 1901-1971
label: Creator
content: Condon, Eddie, 1905-1973
label: Creator
content: Calloway, Cab, 1907-1994
label: Creator
content: Commodore Records.
label: Creator
content: Feather, Leonard, 1914-1994
label: Creator
content: Gabler, Milt
label: Creator
content: Davis, Sammy, 1925-
label: Creator
content: Decca (recording company).
label: Creator
content: Granz, Norman
label: Creator
content: Hawkins, Coleman
label: Creator
content: Kaempfert, Bert, 1923-1980
label: Creator
content: Ives, Burl, 1909-
label: Creator
content: Holiday, Billie, 1915-1959
label: Creator
content: Norvo, Red, 1908-1999
label: Creator
content: Mills Brothers.
label: Creator
content: Krupa, Gene, 1909-1973
label: Creator
content: Kelly, Peck, 1898-
label: Creator
content: Williams, Cootie, 1911-1985
label: Creator
content: United Hot Clubs of America.
label: Creator
content: Stewart, Rex (William), Jr., 1907-1967 (cornetist)
label: Creator
content: Jordan, Louis, 1908-1975
label: Creator
content: Goodman, Benny (Benjamin David), 1909-1986
label: Names
content: Crosby, Bing, 1904-1977
label: Names
content: Goodman, Benny (Benjamin David), 1909-1986
topic: label: Topic
content: Music publishers
label: Topic
content: Jazz musicians -- United States
label: Topic
content: Jazz -- 20th century -- United States
label: Topic
content: Composition (Music)
label: Topic
content: Music trade
label: Topic
content: Music -- 20th century -- United States
label: Topic
content: Musicians -- United States
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Collection donated by Milt Gabler estate, through Lee Gabler.
creator: label: Creator
content: Armstrong, Lucille
label: Creator
content: Bechet, Sidney, 1897-1959
label: Creator
content: Armstrong, Louis, 1901-1971
label: Creator
content: Condon, Eddie, 1905-1973
label: Creator
content: Calloway, Cab, 1907-1994
label: Creator
content: Commodore Records.
label: Creator
content: Feather, Leonard, 1914-1994
label: Creator
content: Gabler, Milt
label: Creator
content: Davis, Sammy, 1925-
label: Creator
content: Decca (recording company).
label: Creator
content: Granz, Norman
label: Creator
content: Hawkins, Coleman
label: Creator
content: Kaempfert, Bert, 1923-1980
label: Creator
content: Ives, Burl, 1909-
label: Creator
content: Holiday, Billie, 1915-1959
label: Creator
content: Norvo, Red, 1908-1999
label: Creator
content: Mills Brothers.
label: Creator
content: Krupa, Gene, 1909-1973
label: Creator
content: Kelly, Peck, 1898-
label: Creator
content: Williams, Cootie, 1911-1985
label: Creator
content: United Hot Clubs of America.
label: Creator
content: Stewart, Rex (William), Jr., 1907-1967 (cornetist)
label: Creator
content: Jordan, Louis, 1908-1975
label: Creator
content: Goodman, Benny (Benjamin David), 1909-1986
setName: label: See more items in
content: Milt Gabler Papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The collection documents Gabler's involvement in the recording industry and the evolution of Commodore Records. The documentation begins with the Commodore Radio Shop through its evolution to Commodore Music Shop.  The collection also includes the beginnings of the Commodore record label and information detailing Gabler's 30 years as staff producer and later Vice-President in Charge of Artists and Repertoire at Decca Records (1941-1974).  There is a small collection of black and white photographs chronicling the early years at the Commodore Music Shop, as well as jam sessions, often held at Jimmy Ryan's on 52nd Street.  The collection also includes a vast array of audio recordings (mainly audiodiscs).
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Milt Gabler was born in Harlem, New York on May 20, 1911.  He began managing his father's radio and small appliance store, the Commodore Radio Shop, while still a teen.  Gabler convinced his father to expand the business and sell audio recordings.  Soon Gabler pioneered the concept of marketing reissues by leasing discontinued masters from various record companies (mainly Victor, Columbia, Vocalion, and Brunswick).  Eventually the Gablers changed the name of the family business to the Commodore Music Shop.  By the early 1930's Gabler founded the first mail order record label, United Hot Clubs of America, to reach an even greater audience of jazz enthusiasts.  
     
In 1935 Gabler began publicizing the music shop by staging a series of Sunday afternoon jam sessions at several different recording studios along 52nd Street.  Later the jam sessions moved to the nearby jazz club, Jimmy Ryan's.        

In 1938 Gabler founded the Commodore music label.  It was the first American recording label created exclusively for jazz music.  A recording session for Eddie Condon's Windy City Seven at Brunswick Studios was the first original Commodore recording.  In 1939 Gabler recorded Billie Holiday's controversial "Strange Fruit", which became Commodore's first major commercial success.  Other notable Commodore artists include Sidney Bechet, Jonah Jones, Peck Kelley, Red Norvo, Ralph Sutton, and Teddy Wilson.  
     
Gabler began as a staff producer at Decca Records in 1941 and worked with artists from many different musical genres:  Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby, Judy Garland, Brenda Lee, the Weavers, and Louis Jordan, among others.  Gabler also began writing lyrics in collaboration with Decca songwriters/composers.  In 1954 Gabler produced the first recordings by Bill Haley and the Comets.  In addition, Gabler continued to run the Commodore recording label until 1957.  Gabler also managed the Commodore Music Shop until 1958, when he began working full-time at Decca as Vice-President in Charge of Artists and Repertoire.  
     
Throughout the 1960's Gabler served as lyricist in a number of collaborations with Bert Kaempfert and Herbert Rehbein. Gabler retained his influential position at Decca until 1974 when the corporation moved to the West Coast.  Through the Decca years, Gabler had saved the Commodore masters and in 1974 began to reissue the recordings through Atlantic, Columbia Special Products, and finally United Hot Clubs of America.  In 1987 Mosaic Records also began to reissue the entire catalog of Commodore recordings.  

In the last decades of his life Gabler remained active in a number of professional organizations, most notably the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, which bestowed upon him a Grammy lifetime achievement award in 1991.  Gabler died in New York on July 20, 2001.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 25 Cubic feet (75 boxes
)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1895-2001
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0849
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Legal records
label: Type
content: Magazines (periodicals)
label: Type
content: Catalogs
label: Type
content: Correspondence
label: Type
content: Financial records
label: Type
content: Music
label: Type
content: Bank statements
label: Type
content: Autobiographies
label: Type
content: Articles
label: Type
content: Tax records
label: Type
content: Business records
label: Type
content: Newsletters
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Recordings
label: Type
content: Sheet music
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged into twenty-seven series.

Series 1: Personal Correspondence

Series 2: Writings by Milt Gabler

Series 3: Music Manuscripts and Sheet Music

Series 4: Personal Financial and Legal Records

Series 5: Commodore and Decca Correspondence and Gabler Rolodex

Series 6: Commodore and Decca Legal Records

Series 7: Commodore and Decca Financial

Series 8: Publicity

Series 9: Commodore and Decca Projects

Series 10: Production Records

Series 11: Commodore General Correspondence

Series 12: Commodore Financial Records

Series 13: Commodore Legal Records

Series 14: Commodore Production Records

Series 15: Commodore, Various Projects and Topical Files

Series 16: Commodore Publicity Records

Series 17: Business Cards

Series 18: Catalogs

Series 19: Newsletters

Series 20: Serials

Series 21: Monographs

Series 22: Newsclippings, Periodical Articles, and Advertisements

Series 23: Correspondence with Organizations

Series 24: Organization Membership cards

Series 25: Bert Kaempfert

Series 26: Photographs

Series 27: Audio Discs
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Processed by Paula Larich (iintern), December 2004, Matthew Friedman (intern), summer 2004; supervised by John Fleckner, archivist and Theodore Hudson (volunteer), 2010; supervised by Wendy Shay, audiovisual archivist.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Legal records
label: Genre/Form
content: Magazines (periodicals) -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Catalogs
label: Genre/Form
content: Correspondence -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Financial records
label: Genre/Form
content: Music -- Manuscripts
label: Genre/Form
content: Bank statements
label: Genre/Form
content: Autobiographies
label: Genre/Form
content: Articles
label: Genre/Form
content: Tax records
label: Genre/Form
content: Business records -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Newsletters -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Sheet music -- 20th century
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Papers documenting Gabler's life and career, including: correspondence with family members, friends and people in the music business such as Sammy Davis, Jr. and Lucille Armstrong (Louis' wife); Gabler's writings, including an autobiography and numerous articles; music manuscripts and sheet music, the lyrics for some of which were written by Gabler, and other compositions written by others, including Red Norvo, Eddie Condon and others; legal and financial records, including royalty statements, tax papers and banking records; business records for Commodore and Decca, including correspondence from persons such as Norman Granz, Burl Ives, and Leonard Feather; Commodore and Decca legal records including licensing and trademark documents; publicity materials; production records, such as production logs and liner notes; printed materials such as catalogs, newsletters, magazines, and periodicals; papers relating to Gabler's affiliation with Bert Kaempfert, including correspondence, sheet music and lyrics, and production records; photographs of Gabler and his family and of numerous others in the music industry, including Bing Crosby, Billie Holiday, Sammy Davis Jr., Bert Kaempfert, the Mills Brothers, Rex Stewart, Cootie Williams, Benny Goodman, Coleman Hawkins, Gene Krupa, Louis Jordan, Peck Kelly, Sidney Bechet, Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, and numerous others, many taken in the studio during recording sessions; and audio recordings.