Commodore Records was started in 1938 by Milt Gabler, owner of the Commodore Music Shop. It was originally located at 136 East 42nd Street (diagonally across the street from the Commodore Hotel), and from 1938–41 with a branch at 46 West 52nd Street (commemorated in Chu Berry's tune, 'Forty-six, West Fifty-two').
The label began as a means to release impromptu recording sessions set up by Gabler made up of Dixieland musicians. But it began to record contemporary artists of the day. Commodore Records was the label on which Billie Holiday recorded “Strange Fruit” on April 20, 1939 because her own label, Columbia Records, felt the lyrics of the tune were too controversial to be committed to wax. They feared a boycott by record stores in the southern US as well as repercussions by their southern radio affiliates at CBS.
After World War II Milt Gabler would go on to work for Decca Records as a producer.
