Commodore Records
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b7/Milt_Gabler%2C_Herbie_Hill%2C_Lou_Blum%2C_Jack_Crystal._Commodore_Record_Shop%2C_August_1947_%28Gottlieb_01631%29.jpg/270px-Milt_Gabler%2C_Herbie_Hill%2C_Lou_Blum%2C_Jack_Crystal._Commodore_Record_Shop%2C_August_1947_%28Gottlieb_01631%29.jpg)
Photograph by William P. Gottlieb .
Commodore Records was an American jazz - label , especially in the area of Dixieland and Swing . It is the oldest independent jazz label in the United States and was formed a few months after the French label Swing .
History of the label
Commodore Records was founded in January 1938 by Milt Gabler , who owned the Commodore Music Shop in Manhattan (East 42nd Street), a meeting place for all jazz fans from New York and the surrounding area. The main focus of his activities was Dixieland Jazz, but other styles such as rhythm and blues also appeared on the label. He also released new releases of jazz records by buying up the pressings of records that were no longer available.
The first artist on the new label was Eddie Condon . In 1938 he became one of the main artists as a band leader at the newly founded label Commodore Records : On January 17, 1938, he recorded Love Is Just Around the Corner / Ja-Da (Commodore # 500), the New York record company's very first record. I Got Rhythm / Beat To The Socks was created on the same day with the legendary Bud Freeman Trio , but was later published with catalog # 502 as Freemans There's A Crowd / You Took Advantage of Me (# 501). Jelly Roll Morton recorded Mamie's Blues / Original Rags here with # 587 on December 16, 1939 . Other musicians on the label were Fats Waller , Muggsy Spanier , Edmond Hall , Lester Young , Bobby Hackett , Wild Bill Davison , Lester Young, Earl Hines , Coleman Hawkins , Art Tatum , Willie The Lion Smith , Hot Lips Page and Pee Wee Russell .
"Commodore" was one of the first record labels to list the full staff of their recordings. In the late 1930s, after her contract with the "Brunswick" label (later Columbia Records ) ended, Billie Holiday recorded several records for Commodore , including her famous " Strange Fruit " on April 20, 1939 , with the backing Fine and Mellow first appeared on that label. Strange Fruit reached number 16 on the pop hit parade.
After the Second World War Gabler worked for the large record label Decca Records . He had less and less time for his own label. The last recordings were made in the early 1950s with Frank Foster and Frank Wess , but the label was continued by Gabler's son-in-law, Jack Crystal, who also ran the record store. The last records were released by Commodore in 1957.
Re-releases
The "Commodore" label catalog was later re-released on vinyl by Decca. From 1995 the entire catalog appeared on " Mosaic Records ", from 1997 on CD with MCA / Universal Music; it comprises 66 LPs, including rare recordings by Teddy Wilson , which he had recorded for a piano lesson at the time.
The most famous Commodore sessions
- Eddie Condon: 1938 - Windy City Seven and Jam Sessions at Commodore
- Commodore Classics in Swing - Lester Young with the Kansas City Six 1938-1944
- Wild Bill Davison : 1943 - There's a Plenty
- Bud Freeman: 1938 - There's No Crowd - The Bud Freedman Trio with Jess Stacy and George Wettling
- Coleman Hawkins: 1940 and 1943 - The Chocolade Dandies and Leonard Feathers Allstars
- Billie Holiday: 1939 and 1944 - Fine and Mellow ( The Complete Commodore Recordings )
- Kansas City Five and Six : 1938 (with Lester Young, Buck Clayton , Eddie Durham , Freddie Green , Walter Page , Jo Jones )
- Jelly Roll Morton : 1939 - New Orleans Memories Plus Two
- Mel Powell / Joe Bushkin : 1942-1946 - The World is Waiting ...
- Jack Teagarden / Max Kaminsky : 1944 - Big T and Mighty Max
- Ben Webster / Don Byas : 1944 and 1946 - Two Kings of the Tenor Sax
Collections
- The Complete Commodore Jazz Recordings - Volume 1 - ( Mosaic Records - 1988) - 23 LPs (rec. From 1923 to 1943) with Cow Cow Davenport : (piano solo) - Fletcher Henderson & his Connie's Inn Orchestra : ( Russel Smith tp, Bobby Stark , Rex Stewart , Benny Morton , Claude Jones , Russell Procope , Edgar Sampson , Coleman Hawkins , Clarence Holiday , John Kirby , Walter Johnson) - Quintets of the Hot Club of France : ( Django Reinhardt , Stephane Grappelli , Joseph Reinhardt , Pierre Ferrer g, Louis Vola ) - Eddie Condon & his Windy City Seven : ( Bobby Hackett , Pee Wee Russell , Bud Freeman , George Brunies , Jess Stacy , Artie Shapiro , George Wettling ) - Bud Freeman Trio : (Freeman, Stacy, Wettling) - All Star Jam Band : (Hackett, Joe Marsala , Pete Brown , Joe Bushkin , Ray Biondi g, Shapiro, Wettling, Leo Watson ) - The Kansas City Five : ( Buck Clayton , Eddie Durham , Freddie Green , Walter Page , Jo Jones ) - Bud Freeman Trio : (Freeman, Stacy, Wettling) - Teddy Wilson : (Piano s olo) - Jess Stacy : (piano solo) - Eddie Condon & his Windy City Seven : (Hackett, Russell, Freeman, Jack Teagarden , Stacy, Shapiro, Wettling) - Bud Freeman and his Gang : (Hackett, Russell, Dave Matthews , Stacy, Shapiro, Dave Tough , Marty Marsala dm) - The Kansas City Six with Lester Young : (Clayton, Young, Durham, Green, Page, Jones) - Chu Berry & his Little Jazz Ensemble : ( Roy Eldridge , Danny Barker , Clyde Hart , Shapiro, Big Sid Catlett ) - Minerva Pious & Bud Freeman : ( Everett Sloane , Bushkin) - Eddie Condon & His Band : (Hackett, Russell, Freeman, Vernon Brown , Bushkin, Shapiro, Lionel Hampton dm) - Bud Freeman Trio : (Stacy, Wettling) - Smith - Bushkin - Stacy : ( Willie The Lion Smith celeste, Bushkin, Stacy, Wettling) - Willie The Lion Smith : (piano solo) - Jess Stacy : (piano solo) - Billie Holiday : ( Frankie Newton , Tab Smith , Stan Payne ts, Kenneth Hollow ts, Sonny White , John Williams , Eddie Dougherty ) - Stuff Smith & his Orchestra : ( Jonah Jones , Geor ge Clarke , Bernard Addison , Sam Allen celeste, John Brown, Herbert Cowans dm - Jess Stacy : (piano solo) - Jess Stacy All Stars : ( Billy Butterfield , Irving Fazola , Eddie Miller , Les Jenkins tb, Sid Weiss , Don Carter dm ) - Jelly Roll Morton : (piano solo) - Jelly Roll Morton's Hot Seven : ( Henry Red Allen , Albert Nicholas , Eddie Williams as, Joe Britton tb, Wellman Braud , Zutty Singleton ) - Jelly Roll Morton's Hot Six : (without tb) - Jelly Roll Morton's Hot Seven : - (Claude Jones tb instead of Britton) - Jack Teagarden : (Bigband with Nat Jaffee p, Arnold Fishkind b) - Art Hodes : (piano solo) - Joe Marsala & his Delta Four : ( Bill Coleman , Pete Brown , Leonard Feather , Carmen Mastren , Gene Traxler b) - Eddie Condon and his Band : ( Max Kaminsky , Muggsy Spanier , Russell, Joe Marsala, Freeman, Brad Gowans , Miff Mole , Stacy, Shapiro, Wettling) - Joe Bushkin : (piano solo) - Coleman Hawkins : (Eldridge, Benny Carter , Addison, Kirby, Catlett) - Lee Wiley : (Spanier, Stacy) - Eddie Condon & his Band : (Marty Marsala, Russell, George Brunies, Fats Waller , Shapiro, Wettling) - Pee Wee Russell's Three Deuces : ( Joe Sullivan , Singleton) - Joe Sullivan : (piano solo) - Joe Bushkin : (piano solo ) - Chu Berry and his Jazz Ensemble : ( Hot Lips Page , Clyde Hart, Al Casey , Al Morgan b, Harry Yaeger dm) - Eddie Condon and his Band : (Kaminsky, Russell, Gowans, Sullivan, Morgan, Wettling) - Bunk Johnson : ( George Lewis , Albert Warner tb, Walter Decou p, Lawrence Marrero , Chester Zardis , Edgar Mosley dm) - Mel Powell and his Orchestra : Butterfield, Benny Goodman , George Berg ts, Lou McGarity , Morgan, Kansas Fields ) - Wild Bill Davison & his Commodores : Russell, Brunies, Gene Schroeder p, Condon, Bob Casey b, Wettling) - George Brunies & his Jazz Band : (Davison, Russell, Schroeder, Condon, Bob Casey, Wettling) - Wild Bill Davison & his Commodores : ( Edmond Hall , Brunies, Schroeder, Condon, Bob Casey, Wettling) - Eddie Condon and his Band : (Kaminsky, Be nny Morton, Russell, Bushkin, Condon, Bob Casey, Catlett) - Coleman Hawkins : ( Cootie Williams , Edmond Hall, Art Tatum , Al Casey, Oscar Pettiford , Catlett) - Eddie Condon and his Band : (Kaminsky, Russell, McGarity, Schroeder, Bob Casey, Wettling) - Edmond Hall Sextet : ( Emmett Berry , Vic Dickenson , Eddie Heywood , Al Casey, Billy Taylor b, Catlett) - Mel Powell : (piano solo)
- The Complete Commodore Jazz Recordings - Volume 2 - ( Mosaic Records - 1989) - 23 LPs (rec. 1944 to 1945) with DeParis Brothers Orchestra : ( Sidney De Paris , Wilbur De Paris , Edmond Hall , Clyde Hart, Billy Taylor , Specs Powell ) - Albert Ammons : (piano solo) - Albert Ammons' Rhythm Kings : ( Hot Lips Page , Don Byas , Vic Dickenson , Israel Crosby , Big Sid Catlett) - Eddie Heywood and his Orchestra : ( Doc Cheatham , Lem Davis , Vic Dickenson , Al Lucas , Jack Parker dm) - Hot Lips Page and His Orchestra : ( Lucky Thompson , Lem Johnson , Ace Harris , John Simmons , Big Sid Catlett) - Eddie Heywood and his Orchestra : (see above) - Big Sid Catlett Quartet : ( Ben Webster , Marlowe Morris p, John Simmons) - Billie Holiday : (Doc Cheatham, Lem Davis, Vic Dickenson, Eddie Heywood, Teddy Walters g, John Simmons, Big Sid Catlett) - The Kansas City Six with Lester Young : ( Bill Coleman , Dicky Wells , Joe Bushkin , John Simmons, Jo Jones ) - Billie Holiday : (see above - without Walte rs g) - Billie Holiday : ( Freddie Webster tp, Vic Dickenson, Lem Davis, Eddie Heywood, Teddy Walters, John Simmons, Big Sid Catlett) - George Zack : with George Wettling ) - Muggsy Spanier and his Ragtimers : (Pee Wee Russell , Miff Mole , Eddie Condon, Dick Cary , Bob Casey, Joe Grauso dm) - Muggsy Spanier and his Ragtimers : Russell, Ernie Caceres , Cary, Condon, Sid Weiss b, Grauso) - Miff Mole and his Nicksieland Band : Bobby Hackett , Russell, Caceres, Gene Schroeder , Condon, Bob Casey, Grauso) - Joe Bushkin : with Sid Weiss, Cozy Cole ) - Joe Bushkin sextet : ( Ernie Figueroa tp, Bill Harris , Zoot Sims , Sid Weiss, Specs Powell) - George Zack : with George Wettling - Max Kaminsky and his jazz band : ( Rod Cless , Frank Orchard tb, James P. Johnson , Condon, Bob Casey, Wettling) - Edmond Hall Quartet with Teddy Wilson : (Billy Taylor b, Arthur Trappier dm) - George Zack : with George Wettling - Edmond Hall Quartet with Teddy Wilson : (see above) - George Wettling and his Rhythm K ings : ( Billy Butterfield , Wilbur De Paris, Edmond Hall, Dave Bowman p, Bob Haggart ) - Bobby Hackett and his Orchestra : (Russell, Lou McGarity , Caceres, Jess Stacy , Condon, Bob Casey, Wettling) - Muggsy Spanier and his Ragtimers : Mole, Russell, Boomie Richmond ts, Schroeder, Condon, Haggart, Wetlling) - Hot Lips Page and his Orchestra : ( Earl Bostic , BGHammond as, Don Byas, Clyde Hart, Al Lucas, Jack Parker) - Pee Wee Russell's Hot Four : Stacy, Sid Weiss, Wettling) - George Zack : (with Wettling) - Red McKenzie : (Butterfield, Caceres, McGarity, Red Norvo , Stacy, Carl Kress , Bob Casey, Wettling) - Jess Stacy (with Specs Powell - Muggsy Spanier and his Ragtimers : (Russell, Garity, Schroeder, Condon, Haggart, Grauso) - Jack Teagarden and his Swingin 'Gates : (Kaminsky, Caceres, Norma Teagarden , Pops Foster , Wettling, Wingy Manone voc) - Wild Bill Davison and his Commodores : Russell, McGarity, Cary, Condon, Bob Casey, Danny Alvin dm) - Wild Bill Davison and his Commodores : Vernon Brown, Edmond Hall, Schroeder, Condon, Bob Casey, Alvin) - George Zack : (with Alvin)
- The Complete Commodore Jazz Recordings - Volume 3 - ( Mosaic Records - 1990) - 20 LPs (rec. From 1938 to 1957) with Bud Freeman and his Gang : ( Bobby Hackett , Pee Wee Russell , Dave Matthews , Jess Stacy , Eddie Condon , Artie Shapiro , Dave Tough , Marty Marsala ) - Chu Berry and his Jazz Ensemble : ( Hot Lips Page , Clyde Hart, Al Casey , Al Morgan , Harry Yaeger dm) - Bunk Johnson : (George Lewis, Albert Warner tb , Walter Decou p , Lawrence Marrero , Chester Zardis , Edgar Mosely dm) - Billie Holiday ( Doc Cheatham , Lem Davis , Vic Dickenson , Eddie Heywood , Teddy Walters g, John Simmons , Big Sid Catlett - Red Norvo and his Orchestra : Shorty Rogers , Eddie Bert , Aaron Sachs , Flip Phillips , Teddy Wilson , Remo Palmieri , Slam Stewart , Specs Powell ) - Bill Coleman : ( Billy Taylor p, Matty Chapin b, Specs Powell) - Gene Krupa Trio : ( Charlie Ventura , George Walthers p) - Stuff Smith Trio : (Billy Taylor, Ted Sturgis b) - Teddy Wilson : (Flip Phillips, Remo Palmieri, Slam S tewart, Specs Powell) - Don Byas and Slam Stewart : (Teddy Wilson) - George Zack : ( George Wettling ) - Jonah Jones : ( Tyree Glenn , Buster Bailey , Hilton Jefferson , Ike Quebec , Dave Riviera p, Danny Barker , Milt Hinton , JC Heard ) - Wild Bill Davison : (with unknown musicians) - Wild Bill Davison and his Commodores : ( Joe Marsala , George Lugg tb, Bill Miles bs, Joe Sullivan , Eddie Condon, Jack Lesberg , George Wettling) - Eddie Edwards and his Original Dixieland Jazz Band : Wild Bill Davison, Brad Gowans , Gene Schroeder , Bob Casey , Tony Sbarbaro ) - Wild Bill Davison and his Commodores : ( Albert Nicholas , George Brunies , Eddie Condon, Gene Schoeder, Jack Lesberg, Dave Tough) - George Brunies and his Jazz Band : Wild Bill Davison, Tony Parenti , Gene Schroeder, Eddie Condon, Jack Lesberg, Danny Alvin ) - Eddie Edwards and his Original Dixieland Jazz Band with Tony Sbarbaro : ( Max Kaminsky , Wild Bill Davison, Gowans , Teddy Roy p, Eddie Condon, Jack Lesberg, Tony Sbarb aro) - George Brunies and his Jazz Band : Max Kaminsky, Johnny Mince , Joe Bushkin , Eddie Condon, Jack Lesberg, Johnny Blowers dm) - Mel Powell and his Orchestra : ( Bernie Privin , Neal Hefti , James Blake, John Carisi , Lou McGarity , Cutty Cutshall, Warren Easton French-horn, Mitch Miller oboe, William Shine as, Mascagni Ruffo as, Clifton Strickland ts, Danny Lapedus ts, Danny Bank , Mike Bryan , Bernard player b, Big Sid Catlett) - Mel Powell : ( David Schwartz viola, Kenneth Pasmanick bassoon) - Bob Wilber and his Wild Cats : ( Johnny Glasel co, Dick Wellstood , Charles Traeger b, Dennis Strong dm) - Ralph Sutton : (solo piano) - Ralph Sutton : ( Arthur Trappier dm) - Sidney Bechet and his New Orleans Feetwarmer : Wild Bill Davison, Wilbur De Paris, Ralph Sutton, Jack Lesberg, George Wettling) - Johnny Wiggs and his New Orleans Jazz Band : Wiggs co, Harry Shiels cl, Tom Brown tb, Doc Souchon g, Stanley Mendelson p , Sherwood Mangiapane b, Buck Rogers dm) - Willie The Lion Smith : (piano solo) - Ralph Sutton : (George Wettling) - Ralph Sutton Quartet with Edmond Hall : ( Walter Page , Cliff Leeman dm) - Frank Wess Quintet : ( Henry Coker tb, Jimmy Jones , Oscar Pettiford , Osie Johnson ) - Ralph Sutton Quartet with Edmond Hall : (as above) - Frank Wess Sextet : ( Joe Wilder , Henry Coker, Jimmy Jones, Oscar Pettiford, Osie Johnson) - Ralph Sutton Quartet with Vic Dickenson : ( John Giuffrida b, Buzzy Drootin dm) - Peck Kelley : ( Dick Shannon cl, Kelley p, Felix Stagno eg, Dusty Hymes acc-g, Glen Boyd b, Richard Spanky Jones dm)
literature
- Bielefeld Catalog Jazz 2001
- Donald Clarke: Billie Holiday , Munich, Piper, 1995
- Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD . 6th edition. Penguin, London 2002, ISBN 0-14-051521-6 .
- V. Pelote The Complete C-Jazz Recordings. A discography. Stanford (CT) 1990
Web links
- English-language label history by Bob Coester
- arte portrait about Billie Holidays "The Complete Commodore Recordings"
- Commodore Records at Discogs
Remarks
- ↑ a b Jürgen Wölfer, Lexikon des Jazz Wien 1999, p. 103
- ↑ Line- up: Artie Shapiro (bass), Bobby Hackett (cornet), Bud Freeman (saxophone), Eddie Condon (guitar), George Brunies (trombone), George Wettling (drums), Jess Stacy (piano) and Pee Wee Russell ( Clarinet)
- ^ After "Strange Fruit" and "Fine and Mellow" (recorded April 20, 1939) Billie Holiday recorded four more tracks ( Yesterdays and I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues ). Later (after the record strike) she sang 12 more tracks for "Commodore" within two weeks in March and April 1944, such as I Cover the Waterfront , I'll Get By , My Old Flame and How am I now
- ↑ Father of Billy Crystal , who so u. a. got the honor of babysitting Billy Holiday