Rev. Stef and JubilationA Jubilation Christmas (2013)
By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog
A Jubilation Christmas is the New Jersey-based Jubilation’s first-ever holiday CD. Under the direction of Rev. Dr. Stefanie Minatee, the group offers a collection of mostly familiar carols and Christmas songs sung in the full-voiced gospel choir style.
What’s most appealing about the album is that Jubilation respects the songs’ original arrangements while making them their own. The result is satisfying listening for anyone who enjoys traditional Christmas music.
The album’s apex is when Jubilation takes James Cleveland and the Angelic Choir’s 1968 up-tempo arrangement of “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” to an even harder-charging level, complete with cascading sections and a fiery vamp. Rev. Stef is well-versed in this version; her mother, the late Pearl Minatee, was a charter member of the Angelic Choir, and as a youngster, Stef sat through many a rehearsal, program, and recording session.
In fact, Jubilation captures the Angelic Choir’s richness of tone and harmonic grace on its version of the Angelic Gospel Singers’ classic “Glory, Glory to the Newborn King” (as “Jesus, What a Wonderful Child”), and while supporting Rev. Stef’s solo on “O Holy Night.”
Another highlight is a gospelized “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.” Judy Garland made the show-stopper from Meet Me In St. Louis famous, but never has it been done with more soulful melisma than on A Jubilation Christmas, courtesy of the duet by Harold Dudley and Susu Bobien. During some moments, Bobien sounds like Dionne Warwick.
A Jubilation Christmas is a peach of a Christmas album.
Four of Five Stars
Pick: “Hark The Herald Angels Sing.”
Written by : Bob Marovich
Bob Marovich is a gospel music historian, author, and radio host. Founder of Journal of Gospel Music blog (formally The Black Gospel Blog) and producer of the Gospel Memories Radio Show.
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