Jubilee

Black-oriented swing, jazz, bop and variety show.

Broadcast History
Oct 9, 1942 - Aug 14, 1953
Transcribed by the Special Services Division of the War Department until 1943 then by the Armed Forces Radio Service.


An important series in the musical history of radio, Jubilee was a morale-building service for black troops and was aired for military personnel, but never broadcast at home. "Bubbles" Whitman was the jive-talking war-time host who introduced many famous live-studio audience jazz performances of Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Max Roach and many others.

Most of the shows were recorded before live audiences in Los Angeles; either at network studios or in the facilities of such syndicators as C.P. MacGregor and Universal Recorders.  The series has emerged as an important piece of black heritage: its War Department status exempted the performing artists from the union-mandated recording bans of 1942-43 and 1947-48, and many of the discs contain unique performances.  A massive two-volume history and discogrpahy of the series was compiled by Rainer E Lotz and Ulrich Neuert in 1985.
'The AFRS Jubilee Transcription Programs: An Exploratory Discography' is out of print.  I found one copy for sale on the net at over $3,000.