An important work
The Fisk Jubilee Singers were *the* first. They recast the spiritual as a kind of choral lieder or arranged spiritual and were a sensation amongst white audiences in the US and Europe, financially rescuing Fisk University in Nashville. You can read their amazing story in "Dark Midnight When I Rise". Since that time, there has been an ongoing group (with an everchanging roster) of Fisk students who are called the Fisk Jubilee Singers, and every 7-10 years the group records. This is a nice collection here; it's hard nowadays to hear what was so revolutionary about their sound unless you know the history.
