[9] By the mid-1930s, Gabler renamed the business the Commodore Music Shop, and it became a focal point for jazz fans and musicians alike.

[citation needed] Gabler founded a specialty label UHCA (United Hot Clubs of America) around 1935 to reissue selected 78 r.p.m.

[9] After getting the necessary permission, he released her recording on Commodore in 1939, boosting her career and issuing what, 60 years on, Time magazine named 'Best Song of the Century'.

Gabler was soon working with many of the biggest stars of the 1940s, producing a series of hits including Lionel Hampton’s "Flying Home", Billie Holiday’s "Lover Man" and The Andrews Sisters' "Rum and Coca-Cola", as well as being the first to bring Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald together on record.

Placed in charge of Decca’s subsidiary label Coral, he expanded his musical scope, producing hits for country singer Red Foley, the left-leaning folk group The Weavers, Peggy Lee, The Ink Spots, and Sammy Davis Jr.

Gabler was also the producer (but not the writer) of Jordan's exceptionally successful hit record, Saturday Night Fish Fry, which held the Number 1 spot on the R&B charts for 12 weeks.

[11] Gabler signed rockabilly act pioneering rock and roll sensation Bill Haley and His Comets to Decca Records.

Gabler wrote many lyrics for Kaempfert songs, such as "L-O-V-E", a hit for Nat King Cole, and "Danke Schoen".

[17] In 1993, Gabler was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by his nephew, the comedian and actor Billy Crystal.