[78-L] Duke Records (c1945 label) questions

Philip Fukuda 78rpm at sbcglobal.net
Tue Apr 9 19:45:20 PDT 2013


I've been looking for some information on the mid-1940s jazz label, Duke. Most of the information online redirects to the 1950s R&B label.

My questions are a) how many issues were there and b) what was the relationship (if any) to the Cosmo label?

Here's the scanty amount of information I've uncovered s far:

I've seen an advertisement in Billboard, May 19, 1945:

Duke Record Company, 769 Rockaway Avenue, Brooklyn 12, NY lists records 110, 112

An LP (Xanadu 208) says that Bob Shad may have produced the sessions.

Here is the discographical information from Lord, supplemented with some additional sleuthing:

Trummie Young & his Lucky Seven (rec NYC 5/2/1945)
Trummy Young, Buck Clayton, Ike Quebec, Kenny Kersey, Slam Stewart,  Lord Byron (Mike Bryan), Jimmy Crawford.
DU4900A	Good 'N' Groovy (Quebec) Duke 110
DU4901A	I'm Living For Today - vTY (Trummie Young) Duke 110
DU-4900-B	Rattle And Roll (Clayton) Duke 111 (also issued on Cosmo JS-901)
DU-4901-B	Behind The Eight Bar (Kersey) Duke 111 (also issued on Cosmo JS-901)

Frankie Socolow and his Duke Quintette (rec NYC 5/2/1945)
Freddie Webster, Frank Socolow, Bud Powell, Leonard Gaskin, Irv Kluger. May 2, 1945.
DU4903	The Man I Love (Gershwin) Duke 112
DU4905	Reverse The Charges (F. Webster) Duke 112
unknown mx	September In The Rain (Warren-Dubin) Duke 115 (single-sided)
unknown mx	Blue Fantasy (unissued)

I've seen Duke 110 and 112, but none of the others. Was Duke 111 issued at all? It turns up on Cosmo.

It seems odd that Duke 115 would have been issued as a single-sided record. That sounds more like a test pressing to me.

Philip 


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