Joe Bostic – known as “the dean of gospel Disk Jockeys” – presided over the powerful New York station WLIB for decades. He was also a promoter, booking everybody from Mahalia Jackson to the rawest gospel quartet. New York hasn’t produced a lot of well-known gospel singers but that doesn’t mean New York and its boroughs don’t have a host of great singers... they most certainly do.
Take for instance this self-produced LP by the E.D. Sangster Gospel Chorus from Elder Sangster’s own Holy House of Prayer in Brooklyn. The album, with a faded photograph of the church on the cover, was probably created to give or sell to friends at the church after concerts or performances.
But the musicianship and singing is first-rate throughout. My particular favorite is their rockin’ version of the old hymn, “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah.” The leader is credited as Mary Gaines, though nearly every selection has a different soloist – and all worth hearing. Gaines, however, was really feeling it that day – oh! How the studio must have rocked!
MUSIC: “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah,” Dr. E.D. Sangster’s Gospel Chorus, I Have a Friend LP,
I’m Robert Darden … “Shout! Black Gospel Music Moments” is produced by KWBU, the Black Gospel Music Preservation Program at Baylor University Libraries and is funded by generous support from the Prichard Foundation.