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35 Florence Cole-Talbert
- University of Illinois Press
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35 Florence Cole-Talbert One of the first wave of African American women to achieve success in the twentieth -century concert hall was Florence Cole-Talbert, a young soprano from Detroit who was active from the mid-1910s to 1930. Many of her fellow vocalists and instrumentalists were never recorded due to the reluctance of the record companies at the time to record black “classical” artists. Cole-Talbert was fortunate to record for three different labels between 1919 and 1924. She was born on June 17, 1890, in Detroit, to a musical family.1 Her mother had at one time sung with the Fisk Jubilee Singers. Florence studied piano and at age twelve was accompanying her mother in recitals. Around 1910 the family moved to Los Angeles where she continued her education at the College of Southern California . Leaving college during her senior year, Cole went on tour with Hann’s Jubilee Singers, run by W. A. Hann, later the founder of the Four Harmony Kings, and at about the same time married Wendell P. Talbert, a pianist and ’cellist in Hann’s troupe. The marriage was short-lived. They separated in 1915, although she kept his name for professional purposes. “Wen” Talbert went on to a career as a jazz pianist and bandleader, appearing on record in the1920s with blues singers Rosa Henderson and Lethia Hill and making some unissued recordings of his own for Vocalion and Gennett.2 Cole-Talbert was still with Hann in 1915, but by 1916 she had begun to make solo appearances. In June of that year she graduated from Chicago Musical College with honors.3 During the following months she appeared in concert in Chicago, Detroit, and Los Angeles, and in April 1918 made her New York recital debut at Aeolian Hall. Among her recital partners during this period was New York musical maven Daisy Tapley. In 1919 Cole-Talbert was approached by George W. Broome to record for his new Broome Special Phonograph label, which had been established specifically to disseminate the work of black concert artists. At least three titles were recorded, probably at the Gennett studios in New York City during the summer. Two were eventually issued, the spiritual “Nobody Knows de Trouble I’ve Seen” in an arrangement by Clarence Cameron White, and the art song “Villanelle” by Dell’Acqua, sung in French. The recordings reveal a pleasant soprano of considerable range. “Nobody Knows” is sung slowly and tenderly, more with recital-hall artistry than with deep feeling, ending on a high, sustained note. “Villanelle” is a vocal showpiece for sopranos , full of runs and trills, and Cole-Talbert used it to demonstrate her flawless technical ability. The label on the latter indicated piano accompaniment by William Leonard King; he presumably accompanied her on the other sides as well. “Villanelle” was issued with the first group of Broome single-faced discs in September 1919.4 It is not known exactly when “Nobody Knows” was issued, but both were on sale in double-face format by 1921. Broome records were sold by mail from the owner’s home in Boston, and distribution was limited. 05.335-496_Broo 12/22/03, 1:44 PM 486 487 An item in the Crisis for November 1919 gave Cole-Talbert’s address as Detroit and reported that she had begun her first tour of the southern states in September. The next few years were spent touring and giving recitals to favorable notice (an item in the Los Angeles Times, reproduced in her advertising, stated, “she has one of the best voices that God has given her race”).5 A curious rumor persists that she recorded several popular songs for the Paramount label in late 1920 and early 1921 under the pseudonym “Flo Bert.”6 The repertoire certainly doesn’t sound like her, consisting of titles such as “Don’t Take Away Those Blues,” “What’cha Gonna Do When There Ain’t No Jazz,” and “Sweet Mamma, Papa’s Getting Mad.” There was a white vaudevillian by the name “Flo Bert” at the time, and the singer could be her. The origin of the rumor is unknown. What is known is that in 1921 Cole-Talbert recorded for the new Black Swan label , established by publisher Harry Pace to feature both popular and classical black artists. For prestige purposes Pace was anxious to build up his classical catalog, and to that end he engaged sopranos Cole-Talbert, Antoinette Garnes, and Hattie King Reavis, and...