McNeil’s Jubilee Singers in 25th Year: Message Rings True

This is the silver jubilee year for Albert McNeil’s Jubilee Singers, and he is celebrating it in style.

More than any individual in any other musical medium, McNeil, a native Angeleno, has become virtually synonymous with an entire genre. Since the Jubilee Singers were formed a quarter-century ago, they have carried their message of joy and hope to 79 Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Buddhist countries.

This week they will begin commemorating their anniversary year with three performances at the Gindi Auditorium of the University of Judaism on Mulholland Drive, Saturday at 8:30 p.m., Sunday at 2 and 7:30 p.m.

Though their primary appeal is rooted in black spiritual music, the Jubilee Singers (a traveling company of seven men and six women, a resident company of 26) have included in their vast repertoire a gospel mass, selections from Ellington and Gershwin, calypso and musical theater works.

“Along the way,” McNeil says, “I’ve worked with many other choirs. On Jan. 15, we’ll be joining with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for a live CBS-TV presentation from Salt Lake City, with the two choirs performing separately and together. Then we’ll be touring the United States through March 5, take four days off, fly to Rome, do two weeks in Italy and three weeks in Spain--our 13th time in Western Europe, where we are better known than we are here in the States.”

McNeil’s is a unique story. Though deeply immersed in black music (he is the author of many educational textbooks on the subject), he is not of Afro-American origin. Not until he was an adult and had to apply for a passport did he discover that he was adopted; his natural parents were Puerto Rican, his adoptive parents black Creoles from Louisiana. “They were in vaudeville, with a song and dance act. As a teen-ager I sang or played piano in churches--I was a Catholic, but the Catholic churches didn’t pay, so I played also in Protestant churches and made two bucks every Sunday.”

Still in his teens, he began directing choirs, and eventually calls came to conduct groups for musical movies: “Porgy and Bess,” “Carmen Jones,” “Hurry Sundown.”

Along with his career as leader of the Jubilee Singers, McNeil in 1969 joined the faculty at UC Davis, heading the Department of Music Education and teaching Afro-American music courses three days a week. Fridays through Mondays he is at home in Hermosa Beach, or conducting the Jubilees in weekend dates.

“I can do these international tours because we get every sixth quarter off; so every other year I can retain my outside relationships during my sabbatical.”

The Jubilee Singers made their first European trip in 1968 and returned regularly throughout the next two decades. There were domestic tours for Columbia Concerts from 1975-9, but as McNeil says, “What really turned things around for us, in terms of American bookings, was an appearance in 1981 before a gathering of choral directors. The word of mouth was terrific and our bookings just shot up. In 1985 we performed in Salt Lake City at their national convention, on the bill with the King Singers. We were the only black group.”

The spiritual rewards of reaching audiences with the universal emotions of the music has, McNeil says, helped ensure loyalty within the ensemble. Two of the group’s singers are original members; most of the others have been with McNeil for periods ranging from 6 to 20 years.

“They’re all dedicated musicians,” says their 62-year-old leader, “but when they’re not with me they may be teaching school, or working as librarians, computer experts or in civil service. Most of them play one or two instruments; some conduct school or church choirs.”

McNeil is carrying on a tradition that goes back well over a century. In 1870 the Fisk Jubilee Singers appeared at the Court of St. James before Queen Victoria. “It was she who announced to the world that there was a vocal forum called the Negro spiritual.”

Given his worldwide reputation, hasn’t it been tempting to quit UC Davis and simply concentrate on the choir?

“Sure, I’ve thought about it often. Eventually, probably around 1991, I’m going to retire and devote my entire time to this. People have always loved the spiritual and I know they always will.”

In the meantime, whenever their itinerary takes intercontinental wings, McNeil and his company can continue to boast that they’ve got the whole world in their hands.