Chris Bonds wrote:

>To a Minnesotan of the St.  Olaf tradition, a Black chorus singing
>spirituals in the Gospel manner is not pleasant.  The pitch spread and
>lack of "precision" is simply intolerable.  Personally, I prefer the sound
>of the chorus on the CD "Black Christmas" to anything that ever came out of
>St.  Olaf (Uffda!!).

Whoa Chris, when was the last time you heard the St.  Olaf choir.  I heard
them earlier this year in Chicago sing a gospel tune by Kieth Hampton that
had me in the aisles.  Dr. Anton Armstrong, the current chormeister of St.
Olaf is African American, and those Minnesota Lutherans can sing the
bejezuz out of Black music.

Kevin Sutton