[1][2] It is named after the Canadian-born Black composer and musician R. Nathaniel Dett (1882–1943), who had a long teaching career in the United States.
[3][4] The group has performed in the Maritimes, Quebec, Manitoba, Western Canada, the United States and in France.
He graduated from Oberlin College with a Bachelor of Music in 1908, and later studied composition with the French composer Nadia Boulanger.
He won prizes from Harvard University for his article entitled The Emancipation of Negro Music and for a motet, "Don't Be Weary, Traveller".
Dett edited several published collections of folk songs and spirituals, and served as president of the National Association of Negro Musicians from 1924 to 1926.