Milt Gabler

While at work today I heard Billy Crystal on NPR talking about an album he is releasing of music his uncle Milt Gabler produced. The story was even more interesting because I never heard of Milt Gabler before, and I was unaware of his contribution to music history. The album cover says, Billy Crystal Presents: From "Strange Fruit" to "Rock Around The Clock" The Milt Gabler Story. Milt Gabler was the owner of the Commodore Music Shop in NYC, became the Vice President of Decca Records in the 1950's and 1960's, and was admitted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005. He led a fascinating life that allowed him to produce some of the most influential musicians and singers in America.

I was surprised to find that Billie Holiday originally recorded Strange Fruit in 1939. I was familiar with the Nina Simone version and assumed that she was the source for the song. The lyrics are so disturbing, it seemed to me that they could not have been written or recorded before the 1960's, because the civil rights movement would have been a necessary precursor to airplay of such a potentially inflammatory song. Strange Fruit is revolutionary because it paints a vividly violent picture of the long-standing practice of lynching in the American South.

Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
Of the bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop

I've heard most of the 26 songs on the album before and some of my favorites are: Rum and Coca Cola, Choo Choo Ch’ Boogie, and Dream a Little Dream of Me. The only song I don’t particularly care for is Rock around the Clock, but this album is definitely on my list of music to own.

Track Listing: 1. Eddie Condon and his Windy City Seven Love Is Just Around the Corner 2. The Kansas City Six Them There Eyes 3. Billie Holiday Strange Fruit 4. Billie Holiday Fine and Mellow 5. Wild Bill Davison and his Commodores That’s a Plenty 6. Lionel Hampton and his Orchestra Flying Home 7. Dick Haymes and the Song Spinners You’ll Never Know 8. Billie Holiday Lover Man Oh, Where Can You Be? 9. The Andrews Sisters Rum and Coca-Cola 10. Bing Crosby and the Jesters MacNamara’s Band 11. Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five Choo Choo Ch’ Boogie 12. Ella Fitzgerald Oh, Lady, Be Good! 13 Ella Fitzgerald How High the Moon 14. Louis Jordan Blueberry Hill 15. The Weavers Goodnight Irene 16. Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald Dream a Little Dream of Me 17. Peggy Lee Lover 18. The Mills Brothers Glow-Worm 19. Pearl Bailey It Takes Two to Tango 20. Kitty Kallen Little Things Mean a Lot 21. The Four Aces Three Coins in the Fountain 22. Bill Haley and his Comets (We’re Gonna) Rock Around the Clock 23. Sammy Davis Jr Hey There 24. Roberta Sherwood You’re Nobody ’Til Somebody Loves You 25. Wayne Newton Danke Schöen 26. Nat "King" Cole L-O-V-E