Fisk Jubilee Singers-a History ..."Swing Low Sweet Chariot" (1909)
Jay Sweet, Jul 8, 2020
A History of The Fisk Jubilee Singers. A History of American Music 1750-1950.
Included is the earliest recording of "Swing Low Sweet Chariot."
Presented by Jay Sweet
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Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post showcases the original Fisk Jubilee Singers.and several
This post also presents information about The Fisk Jubilee Singers & several other Black American singing groups with the word "Jubilee" in their name..
The content of this post is presented for historical and socio-cultural purposes.
All copyrights remained with their owners.
Thanks to the legacies of all those groups that are mentioned in this post. Thanks to all those who quoted in this post.
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ONLINE EXCERPTS
SOURCE #1
From https://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day/jubilee-2016-12-15
"What It Means
1 : (often capitalized Jubilee) a year of emancipation and
restoration provided by ancient Hebrew law to be kept every 50 years by the
emancipation of Hebrew slaves, restoration of alienated lands to their former
owners, and omission of all cultivation of the land
2 : a special anniversary; especially : a 50th anniversary
3 : a period of time proclaimed by the Roman Catholic pope ordinarily every 25 years as a time of special solemnity
4 : a state of joy or rejoicing : jubilation
5 : a religious song of black Americans usually referring to a time of future happiness
[…]
Did You Know?
According to Leviticus, every 50th year was to be a time
when Hebrew slaves were set free, lands were given back to their former owners,
and the fields were not harvested. This year of liberty was announced when a
ram's horn was blown. In Hebrew, that ceremonial horn was called a yōbhēl,
and the celebratory year took its name from that of the horn. As the Bible was
translated into other languages, the concept of the yōbhēl spread around
the world, as did its name (albeit with spelling modifications). In Latin, yōbhēl
was transcribed as jubilaeus (influenced by Latin jubilare,
meaning "to let out joyful shouts"). French-speakers adopted the word
as jubilé, and English-speakers created jubilee from the French and Latin
forms."
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SOURCE #2
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jubilee_quartet
"Jubilee quartets were popular African-American religious
musical groups in the first half of the 20th century. The name derives from the
Fisk Jubilee Singers, a group of singers organized by George L. White at Fisk
University in 1871 to sing Negro spirituals. The members of the original Fisk
Jubilee Quartet (1909–1916) were Alfred G. King (first bass), James A. Myers
(second tenor), Noah W. Ryder (second bass), and John W. Work II (first
tenor).[1] Students at other historically black schools, such as Hampton
Institute, Tuskegee Institute and Wilberforce University, followed suit. Many
independent jubilee troupes also found inspiration in the Fisk Jubilee Singers,
such as the Original Nashville Students.
The early jubilee quartets featured close harmonies, formal arrangements and a "flatfooted" style of singing that emphasized restrained musical expression and technique derived from Western musical traditions. Early quartets reinforced their respectable image by adopting uniforms that a university glee club might wear and discouraging improvisation.
In time, however, the popularity of the jubilee style spread from the universities to black churches, where quartets, singing before audiences with a tradition of enthusiastic response, began to absorb much of the energy and freedom of Gospel music coming out of Holiness churches. Groups such as the Golden Gate Quartet—originally named the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet—infused their performances of spirituals with the rhythmic beat of blues and jazz and gradually began including gospel standards written by Thomas A. Dorsey and others in their repertoire. The Gates and other jubilee quartets gained nationwide popularity through radio broadcasts, records and touring in the 1930s and 1940s.
Other groups, such as the Dixie Hummingbirds and the Original Five Blind Boys of Alabama (formally known as the Happyland Jubilee Singers) that had begun singing in the conventional jubilee style went further, creating the more improvisational and fervent style of quartet singing known as "hard Gospel". That new style largely eclipsed jubilee singing by the 1950s”…
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SOURCE #3
From https://www.fiskjubileesingers.org/overview
"The Fisk Jubilee Singers are vocal artists and students at
Fisk University in Nashville, TN., who sing and travel worldwide.
The original Fisk Jubilee Singers introduced ‘slave songs’ to the world in 1871 and were instrumental in preserving this unique American musical tradition known today as Negro spirituals.
They broke racial barriers in the US and abroad in the late
19th century and entertained Kings and Queens in Europe. At the same time, they
raised money in support of their beloved school."
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SOURCE #4
From https://www.fiskjubileesingers.org/history
"Fisk University opened in Nashville in 1866 as the first
American university to offer a liberal arts education to “young men and women
irrespective of color.” Five years later the school was in dire financial
straits.
George L. White, Fisk treasurer and music professor then, created a nine-member choral ensemble of students and took it on tour to earn money for the University. The group left campus on October 6, 1871. Jubilee Day is celebrated annually on October 6 to commemorate this historic day.
The first concerts were in small towns. Surprise, curiosity, and some hostility were the early audience response to these young black singers who did not perform in the traditional “minstrel fashion.”
One early concert in Cincinnati brought in $50, which was
promptly donated to victims of the notorious 1871 fire in Chicago. When they
reached Columbus, the next city on tour, the students were physically and
emotionally drained. Mr. White, in a gesture of hope and encouragement, named
them “The Jubilee Singers,” a Biblical reference to the year of Jubilee in the
Book of Leviticus, Chapter 25"
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SOURCE #5
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pace_Jubilee_Singers
"The Pace Jubilee Singers were a gospel group founded by
Charles Henry Pace in Chicago in 1925, and one of the first gospel groups to be
recorded. They recorded more than 40 songs for Victor and for Brunswick Records
in 1926–29, including spirituals arranged by Pace, and songs and hymns by Pace
and Charles Albert Tindley and others. They performed in close harmony style,
usually accompanied by piano or organ. Thomas A. Dorsey was briefly associated
with them. In their later recordings, Hattie Parker is identified as
soloist.[1]"...
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SOURCE #6
From
by Henry Willett (no publishing date given)
"In Jefferson County, Alabama, beginning in the first quarter
of the twentieth century, there developed a tradition of African-American a
cappella quartet singing that was to have such widespread influence on the
recorded gospel music industry that numerous record companies applied
"Birmingham" to recording artists who were not even from Alabama,
hoping to take advantage of that city's reputation as the heartland of gospel
quartet music.
With a rich, fluid and mellow intertwining of voices, the Birmingham Sound" is a direct-line ancestor to the most popular versions of African-American harmony singing, from the Ink Spots and the Platters to the Temptations, Take Six and Boyz 2 Men.
In 1926, the Birmingham Jubilee Singers traveled from Jefferson County to record in Atlanta, after being discovered by a Columbia Records talent scout. They achieved popularity nation wide and back home through their live radio broadcasts over stations WAPI, WVRC and WJLD.
In the following two decades, a number of other Jefferson County Quartets--the Famous Blue Jay Singers, the Dunham Jubilee Singers, and the Four Great Wonders--followed in the footsteps of the Birmingham Jubilees as immensely popular recording artists."
The "Birmingham Sound" was nurtured by the historical migration of African-Americans from the farm to the industrial mill and mine settlements of Jefferson County in the early twentieth century.
Quartet "trainers," such as Charles Bridges, R. C. Foster, Son Dunham, and Gilbert Porterfield, products of music teachers from Tuskegee and Fisk, in turn taught legions of quartet singers, combining those traditional harmony lesson stressing timing and articulation with many of the more modern influences of jazz. The result was a dynamic new sound which emerged from Jefferson County's mining camps and mills towns and became immensely popular in urban areas across the country, from New York to Los Angeles.
The "Birmingham Sound," characterized by close harmony, a stressing of vocal attack and release, exchanging lead vocals from singer to singers, and a "pumping" rhythmic bass vocal, set the standard for gospel quartet music."
SOURCE #7
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilgrim_Jubilees
"The Pilgrim Jubilees, also known as The Pilgrim Jubilee Singers, was an American traditional black gospel music group originally from the cities of Jackson, Mississippi and Chicago, Illinois, where they were established by Elgie Graham and Willie Johnson, in 1934. The group have released 25 albums with six record labels Nashboro Records, Peacock Records, Savoy Records, Malaco Records, MCA Records, and Benson Records. Five of those albums charted on the Billboard magazine charts.
Background
The Mississippi and Illinois-based traditional black gospel group, The Pilgrim Jubilees, were established in 1934 by Elgie Graham and Willie Johnson, as a duo at that time in Houston, Mississippi. They added three more members to the duo in 1946:"...
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SOURCE #8
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selah_Jubilee_Singers
"The Selah Jubilee Singers were an American gospel vocal
quartet, who appeared in public as a gospel group but who also had a successful
recording career as a secular group in the 1930s & 1940s.
Around 1927, Thermon Ruth (1914–2002) founded the Selah
Jubilee Singers, a group drawn from the membership of a church choir, while he
was the disc jockey at WOR in Brooklyn, New York. He later based the group in
Raleigh, North Carolina when he moved his radio show to station WPTF. The Selah
Jubilee Singers first recorded on April 28, 1938 for Decca, a session which
included popular songs such as "Take My Hand, Precious Lord" (DE
7598), and in February 1941, "I'll Fly Away" (DE 7831).[1] The group
made the first recording of "Just a Closer Walk With Thee" (Decca
Records 7872), recorded on October 8, 1941 in New York City with Thermon Ruth
and John Ford, lead vocal; Fred Baker, lead baritone; Monroe Clark, baritone;
J. B. Nelson, bass vocal; and Fred Baker on guitar.[2]
By the late 1940s, the members were Ruth, Alden ("Allen") Bunn, Junius Parker, Melvin Coldten, and Jimmy Gorham. In 1949, Ruth and Bunn decided to form a secular vocal group, which became The Larks.[3] The Larks recorded most successfully for Apollo Records, a New York City area record company, but split up in 1952.[4]
The Selah Jubilee Singers became the first gospel group to play in the famed Apollo Theater, known for its vaudeville acts, after Therman Ruth convinced the owner, Frank Shiffman, to allow a gospel act. On December 15, 1955, the Selah Jubilee Singers debuted at the Apollo, the first gospel group to play at any commercial theater. Ruth ensured that a variety of music including gospel, jubilee, and spirituals was featured in order to broaden the appeal, though the emphasis was on rhythm as well as the emotional components of gospel.[5]"
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