The second concert of Mrs. Sissieretta Jones, the "Black Patti," attracted a large and enthnsiastic audience at Central Music Hall last night. The great richness and sympathetic quality of the voice of this singer grows upon one. Her selections were "Robert, toi que j'aime," from Meyerbeer's "Robert le Diable," and Gelli's "Farfella Waltz." She sang the aria with so much feeling and expression that one can overlook deficiencies in vocalization and method. In the encore numbers she made a great success. She sang "Comin' Thro' the Rye," "Bobolink," and "Snwanee River." She carried her audience fairly by storm with the latter. She sang with a wonderful depth of feeling, and the exquisite quality of her voice is admirably suited to the plaintive melody. This simple song has been sung in Chicago many times by the greatest artists, and it is but justice to Mrs. Jones to say that she excels them all in this one song.—Chicago Times, Saturday, January 7, 1893.
Another incident of interest in the week of music was the appearance of Mrs. Sissieretta Jones, the "Black Patti." This woman comes as the first vocalist of her race to whom a place in the ranks of artistic singers may be accorded. She has been endowed by nature with a voice that in any throat would be remarkable for its great range and volume, but which, with her, possesses even greater attractiveness by reason of its having also the wonderful richness and fullness and the peculiar timbre that lend the negro singing voice its individuality. The tones in the lower and middle registers are of surpassing beauty, and those of the upper are remarkable for their clear, bell-like quality. Another striking element of the voice is its plaintiveness. In every note Mrs. Jones sang in her concerts here that one quality was unfailingly present. In the arias, i ballads, comic or sentimental, it was noticeable, and it soon became evident that it was the most individualizing element in the voice, and that no amount of schooling or training could eradicate it. Not that one would desire to have it eradicated. It is the heritage the singer has received from her race, and it alone tells not only of the sorrows of a single life, but the cruelly sad story of a whole people. It lends to her singing of ballads an irresistible charm, making her work in this kind of music as artistically satisfactory as it is enjoyable.—Chicago Tribune, Sunday , January S, 1893.
Mrs. Jones possesses a wonderful vocal organ of extraordinary compass and distinct in enunciation.—New York Evening Telegram.