Gospel Music

ShadrachGrace InsteadCrooked Thumbs Music (2013)www.shadrach.netBy Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel BlogThe apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.That axiom fits Shadrach.  He is the youngest son of prodigious gospel recording artists Rev. Cleophus and Bertha Robinson.  On Grace Instead, Shadrach tends the family business for a new generation.Although there [...]

Check out the list here, courtesy of uGospel.com: 2014 Stellar Award NomineesCongratulations to all the nominees!  See you at the Stellars in January!

Various ArtistsI Heard the Angels Singing:Electrifying Black Gospel from the Nashboro Label, 1951-1983Tompkins Square (release date: December 10, 2013)www.tompkinssquare.comBy Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel BlogWhen it came to recording post-war gospel quartets, Ernie Young’s Nashboro Records of Nashville gave Don Robey’s Peacock Records a run for its money.  A [...]

Maceo Woods Singers, ca. 1952 - Woods is front, centerBy Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel BlogRev. Maceo L. Woods, founder and pastor of Christian Tabernacle Church in Chicago and gospel recording artist for more than sixty years, will be honored at the 2014 Stellar Awards with the Ambassador Bobby [...]

Pastor Milton R. Hawkins PresentsTemple of Deliverance Women’s Choir - LiveIn the SanctuaryHabakkuk Music (2013)www.habakkukmusic.comBy Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel BlogWith a chorus of 200+ women and a parade of top female soloists, In the Sanctuary is a veritable injection of high-octane estrogen that engulfs the Temple of Deliverance [...]

Rev. Stef and JubilationA Jubilation Christmas (2013)www.RevStefandJubilation.comBy Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel BlogA 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 [...]

Washington, DC:  J.J. Hairston & the tenors from Youthful Praise will back Miss Piggy on a classic holiday song on the network TV special “Lady Gaga and the Muppets’ Holiday Spectacular” that airs on Thanksgiving evening, November 28, 2013 @ 9:30 p.m. EST on the ABC network.The 90-minute special also features guest appearances from rock [...]

It's YOUR turn to be the reviewer.Click below and listen to award-winning singer Miki Howard's version of "He Looked Beyond My Faults," then post your review in the comments section below."He Looked Beyond My Faults"

“The First Noel”Andrea McClurkin-MelliniCamdon Music (2013)Here's one for your holiday mp3 player:Taking her cue from the jazzy Christmas carols of Nat Cole and Ella Fitzgerald, Andrea McClurkin-Mellini (sister of Donnie) delivers an arrangement of “The First Noel” with a soft jazz combo and brass, though it gets downright soulful by [...]

Black NativityFox Searchlight (opens November 27, 2013)PG - 1 hour 32 minuteswww.foxsearchlight.com/blacknativityBy Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel BlogWhen I heard that Black Nativity was to be made into a motion picture, I wondered how faithful it would be to Langston Hughes’ 1961 musical retelling of the birth of Jesus.  Turns out the [...]