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Williams’ Colored Singers.

American Folk Songs as Sung by Williams’ Colored Singers. [Cover title:] The World Famous Williams’ Colored Singers.

Chicago: Williams, Johnson & Co., Press of Rosenow Co., [ca. 1915]. Sm 4to (10.75” x 7.75”), illustrated wrappers. [24] pp. Illus. Ownership inscription in pencil in upper-right corner of front wrapper, “Lily Bischof.” CONDITION: Good, light soiling and wear to wrappers, 1.15” separation along spine, contents bright and clean.

A collection of twenty-five spirituals performed by the well-traveled Williams’ Colored Singers.

The photo-illustrations on the wrappers picture Williams’ Colored Singers in a variety of formations (as a trio, quartet, and octet) and with their suitcases while on tour in Europe. One inset portrait pictures the group’s manager, Charles P. Williams. Text on the left and right edges of the front wrapper announces that the group has toured through England (“130 performances in London”), Scotland, Wales, Holland, Belgium, Germany, and France, and the back wrapper advises that “Our quartette is a special feature and is always a favorite,” and “‘Our ship now goes with a pleasant gale,’ every one a star.” Arranged for voice and piano, the songs in this publication include “Dar’s a jubilee”; “My old Kentucky home good night”; “Peter, do ring dem bells”; “Swinging on de golden gate”; “Keep in de middle of de road”; “Prepare me, Lord”; “Old Black Joe”; “Roll, Jordan roll”; “Joshua at Jericho”; “My Lord’s writing all the time”; “Bright sparkles in the churchyard”; “John Brown's body”; “In bright mansions above”; “My Lord, what a mourning”; “We’ll stand the storm”; “Way over Jordan”; and “The gospel train.” Only some of these tunes are attributed to an author or an arranger. The work concludes with a three-page biography of Williams’ Colored Singers and its members: J. S. Crabbe, Virginia Greene, Hattie F. Hobbs, Annis Hackley, G. L. Johnson, J. H. Johnson, Clara Kindle-Williams (wife of the manager), and Charles P. Williams.

Formed in 1904 in Chicago, the ensemble was variously billed as Williams’ Colored Singers and Williams’ Jubilee Singers (a nod to the pathbreaking Fisk Jubilee Singers). Consisting of classically trained singers, the group was one of the first Black spiritual choirs to sing in the quartet formation rather than a group of ten or more. The biography notes that “while in London the entire company was under the instruction of one of the world’s greatest vocal teachers—Miss Ira Aldridge, who is a scholar of the London Royal Conservatory of Music, and whose early teacher was the famous Jennie Lind.” By 1932, “the radio, the depression, and the public’s change in music taste conspired to end  [the ensemble’s] long brilliant career” (Waters).

REFERENCES: Wammer, Atle. “‘The Power of Music’: Charles Williams and His Jubilee Singers” (November 18, 2022) at St. Olaf’s College online; Waters, Enoc P. “Adventures in Race Relations: The Power of Music.” The Chicago Defender (National Edition), Oct. 23, 1954.

Item #9437

Price: $350.00

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