Hear dem Bells Brilliant Quartet (1896)
CD 1, track 6
In the wake of the 1870s success of the touring Fisk University Jubilee Singers came a slew of faux spirituals, none more popular or lasting than D. S. McCosh’s “Hear dem Bells” from 1880. The Brilliant Quartet was also extremely popular, both as a live act and a recording group in the 1890s. Most likely consisting at the time of this 1896 recording of James Marion (1st tenor), Frank Mitchell (2nd tenor), Charles O. Marsh (baritone), and John H. Rapp (bass), they were long thought by collectors to be African Americans, but that is not the case.
