Wiseman Quartet

During the summer of 1923, a cappella vocal groups led by Reverend Thomas H. Wiseman made a series of phonograph transcriptions in Camden, NJ and New York for the Rainbow and Victor record companies. Portions of the Rainbow catalog also appeared on other labels including Paramount. Influenced primarily by the Fisk University Jubilee Singers and evincing greater austerity than some of the more intensified gospel groups that would emerge by the end of the decade, Wiseman's Quartette & Sextette took a careful, focused approach to their devotional singing. The all-male Quartette recorded for Victor while the ensemble whose voices were heard on Rainbow was augmented by two female singers. Individuals known to have participated in these sessions were H.S. Allen, A.C. Brogdon, and J.C. Eubanks. The women remain anonymous. One of the first truly independent labels, Rainbow was originally based in Winona Lake, IN and was owned and operated by vocalist and bible-thumping trombonist Homer Rodeheaver, who helped to popularize the song "Old Rugged Cross." This resourceful individual was a hugely successful publisher of religious sheet music, a master of crowd psychology and a popular, affable preacher who served as choirmaster and revival meeting organizer for ex-National League outfielder and conservative Christian prohibitionist Billy Sunday. During this period, Rodeheaver sang and spoke on some of the records with the Wiseman groups. As blacks and whites were not supposed to mingle in the studio, these stand among the very first racially integrated recordings. Twenty-two selections by the Wiseman Sextette & Quartette were reissued by Document in 1997. ~ arwulf arwulf, Rovi