James Milton Black

James Milton Black was an American Methodist Episcopal church musician, composer, singing teacher, choir leader, and editor whose musical career centered largely in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Born in 1856 at South Hill, New York, he received musical instruction from teachers including John Howard and Daniel B. Towner and became active in congregational, Sunday-school, and revival music after moving to Williamsport.

Black's editorial work gave his compositions a broad channel of circulation. He co-edited Songs of the Soul with Joseph F. Berry and later prepared numerous other gospel-song collections. His tune for Katharine E. Purvis's nineteenth-century gospel song When the Saints Are Marching In is among his other documented musical settings; that song should not be confused with the later traditional When the Saints Go Marching In.

For When the Trumpet of the Lord Shall Sound, commonly titled When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder, Black composed the tune ROLL CALL for his own 1893 text. The earliest located publication in Songs of the Soul presents the words and music together. The original score is in A-flat major, and the refrain's repeated entries made the song especially suited to Sunday-school, revival, and congregational singing.