Quartets

A cappella vocal groups are also called jubilee quartets because of the characteristics of performance style. They often consisted of men; they had a developed, unique style of singing. They are a sub-genre of gospel music. They are a synthesis of African American and Western practices. Western quartets usually consisted of four members or four […]

The Soul Stirrers: Jubilee Quartet

The Soul Stirrers: Jubilee Quartet Origins of Jubilee Quartet and Jubilee Singing The Jubilee style of singing started in the 1870’s when the Fisk Jubilee singers popularized the singing of negro spirituals in a style that emphasized musical expression and the techniques of western musical traditions. Background The soul stirrers were a jubilee quartet formed […]

The Soul Stirrers

The Soul Stirrers The Soul Stirrers is a jubilee quartet group that dates many of their origins as early as 1926. The Soul Stirrers is a pioneer for quartet styled gospel. This group was the first to contrast from traditional sounds of spirituals. They pushed the sound of quartet towards a more sentimental and deeply […]

The First Fisk Jubilee Group of Many..

The First Fisk Jubilee Singers: The Impact on the World The Fisk Jubilee Singers were an African American group formed by students attending Fisk University in 1871. In the beginning the sole purpose of organizing this group was to raise funds for the college through singing traditional spirituals but also some songs by Stephen Foster. […]

Jubilee Quartet: The Blind Boys of Alabama

Jubilee Quartets Jubilee quartets also known as the African American quartet, is a unique singing form that started in the mid- 1800s and is derived from the historically black college and university singing movement. Jubilee quartets were extremely popular and the name derives from the Fisk Jubilee Singers, who were a group at singers at […]

Who Were The Soul Stirrers?

Meet The Soul Stirrers By Camille Adams-Lonzer  The Soul Stirrers were a gospel quartet that was started back in 1929. In 1930 when Silias Roy Crain joined, they changed their name to the Soul Stirrers. Other members of the group consisted of J.J Farley, Rebert H. Harris (R.H Harris), Sam Cooke, Johnnie Taylor and many […]

Jubilee Quartets: The Soul Stirrers

The Soul Stirrers Who were they and what were Jubilee Quartets ? The Soul Stirrers were a gospel quartet group, formed in Trinity, Texas. Their music had a massive impact on modern soul music and gospel. Their music was very modern for its time; it did not sound like the traditional jubilee style. Jubilee quartet […]

The Dixie Hummingbirds, and Jubilee Quartet

What is a Jubilee Quartet? In the first half of the 20th century Jubilee-Qaurtet’s were very popular, they were religious African American music groups. It originated from the insitution Fisk University in 1871. The word Jubilee derives from the word yobhel which is Hebrew.  The Fisk Jubilee singers originally started the group to raise funds […]

The beginning of Gospel Music: Gospel Period

Introduction What is Jubilee Quartet? It is an artistic form with unique history and expression that has originated in the 1920’s. It was an outgrowth of the African American university singing movement. It is named Jubilee quartet due to its nature, characteristics and performance style. Jubilee Quartet can be divided into three periods. The period […]

Let the Spirit Move You: The Gospel Period of Jubilee Quartets

Let the Spirit Move You: The Gospel Period of Jubilee Quartets By the mid-1800s, society had gotten used to the slow and solemn Negro Spirituals, but they had no idea that Quartets were about to make their grand appearance. What would be considered a group of 4 singers in Westernized music, African American quartets were […]