Recorded Solo Concert Spirituals, 1916–2022

This work catalogs commercially produced recordings of Negro spirituals composed for solo concert vocalists. More than 5,000 tracks are listed, with entries sourced from a variety of recording formats. The featured recordings enhance the study of concert spiritual performance in studio, concert, worship service or competition settings.
Arranged alphabetically, entries variously identify the accompaniment—including chorus, piano, orchestra, guitar, flute, and violin—in concert spiritual recordings. The voice types of soloists are included, as is the level of dialect used by various performers. The composers, publishers and format information are also listed when available. While structured like a discography, this guide extends beyond solely providing historical context and encourages the use of the recordings themselves.

Soprano and music historian Randye Jones manages the media collections for the Grinnell College Libraries. She lives in Grinnell, Iowa.

Compiled by Randye Jones
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 607
Bibliographic Info: bibliography, indexes
Copyright Date: 2023
pISBN: 978-1-4766-8471-0
eISBN: 978-1-4766-4845-3
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments viii

Introduction 1

Spirituals in Musical Collections 9

The Tracks 13

Bibliography 553

General Index 559

Index of Songs 575

Index of Musicians 588

• Winner, ARSC Award for Excellence

• Winner, Vincent H. Duckles Award—Music Library Association

• “A significant addition to the literature on Black spirituals. …an excellent example of how recordings, including historic recordings, can be used to enhance contemporary performance practice.”—ARSC Journal

• “A valuable guide for identifying recordings for the purpose of study. As such, it is the perfect complement to the many text-focused bibliographies about spirituals. This work enables the coordination of over 100 years of recordings with the printed music publications since the 1900s.”—Music Library Association

• “Jones has conducted extensive research into the genre of spirituals. … [She] is a passionate advocate for the study and performance of spirituals by all singers, and she proffers this guide as a resource to the repertoire and its performance practice. …impressive …an excellent resource for learning about the repertoire and performance practice of this important body of literature. …highly recommended”—Journal of Singing