Roland Hayes, Marian Anderson and Paul Robeson, each in a unique way, laid down a model – the honoring of spirituals in classical music concerts – that has been followed by dozens of concert singers who have followed in her footsteps, including some of the vocal stars of the late twentieth century and early twenty first century classical music world – singers such as Dorothy Maynor, William Warfield, Leontyne Price, Grace Bumbry, Kathleen Battle, Barbara Hendricks, Jessye Norman, Simon Estes, Florence Quivar and many others. Each singer attempts to bring a fresh and newly creative interpretation to a concert form that began in the early twentieth century and is now poised to continue well into decades ahead.

In a landmark performance in 1990 at Carnegie Hall in New York, opera divas Kathleen Battle and Jessye Norman collaborated in a concert consisting entirely of new arrangements of spirituals, accompanied on most songs by a full orchestra (conducted by James Levine), with additional accompaniment provided by the legendary African American pianist and vocal coach Sylvia Olden Lee and a full contingent chorus of singers. This concert was Battle and Norman’s way of honoring the tradition that had been passed down to them through Hayes, Anderson and Robeson and successive generations of African American concert singers.

This concert clearly had an impact in reviving interest in spirituals among new generations of listeners and performers. One of those who was clearly impacted was rhythm and blues and jazz singer Linda Tillery, who subsequently made a decision to start her own ensemble to help preserve the legacy of spirituals and other African American music folk forms.