Ellington 78 rpm Labels
1939 – 1940 recordings

Although the New Desor discography says all the studio sessions from September 20, 1937 to February 15, 1940 were ARC-Brunswick sessions, these pages show the sessions with matrix numbers beginning with M or WM as ARC-Brunswick (Master) sessions.

In Duke Ellington: A Listener's Guide, page 69, Eddie Lambert writes

"In late 1936 Ellington began to record for Irving Mills's Master label and introduced an new aspect of his recording policy by also instituting a series of recordings by contingents from the band on Mills's cheaper Variety label...Although this recording contract lasted until February 1940, the records came out on a number of labels, a fact explained by changes in the ownership of the company. In the spring of 1937, Mills was bought out by ARC...and from the summer of that year, the Mills labels were phased out and the Ellington band started to appear on ARC's main Brunswick label, the contingent recordings coming out on Vocalion."

In his comprehensive book/discography accompanying the 11 CD Mosaic release The Complete 1932-1940 Brunswick, Columbia, and Master Recordings of Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra, Steven Lasker says Mills' first Master Records, Inc. recordings were made in Hollywood in December 1936 and his label didn't thrive because he didn't have European distributors. He then "affiliated" with ARC who would press and distribute his product in the US. He wrote:

"Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra would record on a new 75-cent label, Master Records, while records made by small groups drawn from the band would be released on the 35-cent Variety label. Mills' other artists would also record for the two labels. The experiment didn't survive 1937, however, due in large part to Mills' failure to find European distribution for the new company's product. When the labels were discontinued, Master's artists and catalog were transferred to Brunswick, while Variety's artists and catalog were transferred to Vocalion."

He then tells us Ellington signed a 1 year ARC contract, with a 2 year renewal option, on Feb 16, 1937 that would expire on Feb 16 1940.

Since Ellington's contract with Master was to continue until 1940, and may have been replaced with the ARC contract signed in 1938, I decided to describe these sessions as "ARC-Brunswick (Master) session." I will leave it to serious collectors and researchers to work it out for themselves.

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Mr. Lasker places these sessions definitely at World's studio, 711 Fifth Ave:

1939-03-20, 1939-03-21, 1939-06-06, 1939-06-12, 1939-08-28
-these matrixes have the WM prefix

He says these sessions were probably at the World Broadcasting System studios, 301 E. Eire St., Chicago:

1939-10-14, 1939-10-16, 1940-02-14

While New Desor identifies the 1940-02-14 and 1940-02-15 sessions as ARC-Brunswick sessions in New York, Steven Lasker's comprehensive book/discography accompanying the 11 CD Mosaic release The Complete 1932-1940 Brunswick, Columbia, and Master Recordings of Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra, identifies these sessions as being in Chicago, "probably" at the World studio.

Stratemann confirms Ellington was in Chicago at this time, and says the Feb 14 session "was Ellington's final date for Columbia Records (now CBS) under the present contract that had tied him to Irving Mills's Master Records Inc., who in turn had been supplying their recordings to Columbia."

In Duke Ellington A Listener's Guide, pages 85 through 88, Eddie Lambert writes:

The last recordings under the Master-Brunswick-Columbia-Variety-Vocalion-OKeh contract were made less than a month before the first 1940 Victors, yet these Victors seem to mark the beginning of a new era...A good deal of the credit must go to the Victor company itself for the superb recording quality of the 1940 discs...the Victors are exceptional; in particular the bass part — crucially important in this music — is clearly recorded.
... The first recording session under the new Victor contract took place on March 6, 1940, and the first title recorded was anything but a masterpiece, a non-Ellington pop song called You, You Darlin'...The second title, Jack the Bear, is much more representative...