Latest Release
- 17 FEB 2023
- 4 Songs
- A Tribute To The Judds · 2023
- In Bright Mansions · 2003
- Celebrating Fisk! (The 150th Anniversary Album) · 2020
- Celebrating Fisk! (The 150th Anniversary Album) · 2020
- Sparrow - Single · 2022
- Fisk Jubilee Singers Vol. 1 (1909-1911) · 1997
- Tree · 2022
- In Bright Mansions · 2003
- In Bright Mansions · 2003
- Fisk Jubilee Singers Vol. 1 (1909-1911) · 1997
Essential Albums
- This group, from Nashville’s Fisk University, has existed since shortly after The Civil War, and many of the songs on In Bright Mansions, are decades old. Resonant voices give weight to classic songs of deep devotion, and a cappella arrangements keep the focus on the rich words and the sanctified act of singing. A modern microphone arrangement captures the spirited singing with lifelike precision, and the songs themselves remain deeply moving. Highlights include a hushed “Were You There?” and a slow and haunted “Wade in the Water”.
Music Videos
Singles & EPs
- 2023
- 2022
Appears On
- Miko Marks & the Resurrectors
About Fisk Jubilee Singers
Fisk University in Nashville was in dire straits at the turn of the 1870s. The buildings that the school had used since opening in 1866 were in need of major repair, teachers were severly underpaid and the food supply for students was dwindling. In an attempt to raise necessary funds, a group of student singers, under the direction of treasurer and music instructor George L. White, came together to perform during a benefit concert tour of the Midwest. Although they started the tour on October 8, 1871 with only $1 of institution money, they returned seven months later with $20,000 -- enough to pay the school's debts and purchase Fort Gillen, the site of the current university. Traveling to England in April 1873, the group raised more than $50,000 in the little more than a year they toured Great Britain. In the first seven years that they were together, the Fisk Jubilee Singers raised more than $150,000 for the university. More than a century later, the group continued bringing their soulful singing to enthusiastic audiences around the globe. Although their initial repertoire featured what they called "white man's music" and a few "slave songs", the Fisk Jubilee Singers increasingly focused on Afro-American spirituals. According to member Esther Jones, "The group has tried to maintain a spirituality and a closeness to God." The Fisk Jubilee Singers have been guided by a series of highly-talented directors. In 1956, the group returned to Europe, under the direction of John W. Work III, performing fifty-four concerts in nine countries. Matthew W. Kennedy served three stints as director -- 1972 to 1973, 1975 to 1983 and 1985 to 1986. ~ Craig Harris
- ORIGIN
- Nashville, TN, United States
- FORMED
- 1871
- GENRE
- R&B/Soul