Chicago, IL (Top40 Charts/ nove.net) Produced and hosted by Sid Ordower, Jubilee Showcase aired on ABC's
Chicago affiliate television station, WLS Channel 7, from 1963 to 1984 and won an Emmy Award for a Pioneering Project in television.
The landmark series featured everyone from the youngest church performers to the most famous gospel recording artists of the time, including
James Cleveland, Grammy Award winner Albertina Walker, the Caravans, Andrae Crouch & The Disciples, the Mighty Clouds of Joy, the Soul Stirrers; the Staple Singers and the Barrett Sisters - all gospel music pioneers. There was even an appearance by the acknowledged inventor of gospel music,
Thomas Dorsey.
Presenting the widest variety of gospel and inspirational music with the highest professional standards, this historic program reached a vast audience every Sunday morning, establishing itself as an institution in Chicago; it was, simply, "church before church." Jubilee Showcase was also a platform for a majority of the performers to make their television debuts, as it was with Albertina Walker singing "Amazing Grace."
Now, for the first time, the pioneering music and uplifting songs of Jubilee Showcase are presented on the Classic Moments in Jubilee Showcase DVD. Featuring four episodes of this one-of-a-kind program and performances by Andrae Crouch, Inez Andrews,
Jessy Dixon, The Staple Singers, The Soul Stirrers and others, this DVD is available for purchase via the official website, www.jubileeshowcase.com, or by calling 877-459-7904.
"Jubilee Showcase regularly exposed gospel singers who could not have gotten exposure otherwise. Maybe the show's biggest contribution was that it gave great gospel singers a chance to sing and be heard. It launched careers." - Gospel music superstar Albertina Walker
"For more than two decades, the long-defunct Jubilee Showcase TV program featured - and therefore preserved on tape - virtually everyone who mattered on gospel." -
Howard Reich,
Chicago Tribune
