Unique Quartette

The Unique Quartette were a black vocal quartet in New York City. Founded in the mid-1880s by Joseph Moore, they are best known for a handful of wax cylinder recordings made in the first half of the 1890s. They are the earliest known black vocal group to have been commercially recorded, with their first recordings made in December 1890 for the New York Phonograph Company. Several of their wax cylinders survive, and are among the earliest extant recordings of any African-American musicians, along with recordings by George W.