Carnegie Hall

Known as the Black Adelina Patti—a somewhat reductive catchphrase, as their voices would seem to have been quite dissimilar, Jones was one of the first African American headliners to appear at Carnegie Hall. She made her debut in the Main Hall in February 1893 (she had appeared at the smaller Recital Hall the previous year). She left no recordings, so we can only guess at what she sounded like. Regardless, she must have been an estimable artist, as she sang for four US presidents and at Madison Square Garden before her retirement in 1916.