Lorenza Jordan Cole

Jordan was born in Texas and raised in California, the daughter of Edward Jordan and Amanda Olive Scott Jordan. She attended Los Angeles High School. She trained as a pianist with Marie Gashweiler in Seattle,{{Cite journal |date=July 16, 1920 |title=Marie Gashweiler Presents Lorenza Cole, Negro Pianist |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O2lFAQAAMAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=Lorenza%20Jordan%20Cole&pg=RA2-PA15#v=onepage&q=Lorenza%20Jordan%20Cole&f=false |journal=The Music News |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=15}} and with Marguerite Melville Liszniewska at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music.{{Cite news |date=1926-07-16 |title=L. A. Pianist Heard in Cincinnati |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/california-eagle-l-a-pianist-heard-in/164419613/ |access-date=2025-02-01 |work=California Eagle |pages=8 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite journal |date=August 1930 |title=Along the Color Line |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zVcEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA276&dq=Lorenza+Jordan+Cole&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiNp9_lmaGLAxVFDkQIHVyIBOE4HhDoAXoECAQQAw#v=onepage&q=Lorenza%20Jordan%20Cole&f=false |journal=The Crisis |pages=276}} In 1930 she graduated from the Institute of Musical Art (Juilliard), with financial support arranged by Mary White Ovington of the NAACP.{{Cite book |last=Wintz |first=Cary D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GYioAgAAQBAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&lpg=PT239&dq=Lorenza%20Jordan%20Cole&pg=PT239#v=onepage&q=Lorenza%20Jordan%20Cole&f=false |title=The Harlem Renaissance in the American West: The New Negro's Western Experience |last2=Glasrud |first2=Bruce |date=2012-05-22 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-64910-3 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Ovington |first=Mary White |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iACIVyzSShUC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&lpg=PA109&dq=Lorenza%20Jordan%20Cole&pg=PA109#v=onepage&q=Lorenza%20Jordan%20Cole&f=false |title=Black and White Sat Down Together: The Reminiscences of an NAACP Founder |date=1996 |publisher=Feminist Press at CUNY |isbn=978-1-55861-156-6 |pages=109-112 |language=en}} She also studied in London with Tobias Matthay in 1931.{{Cite book |last=Savage |first=Barbara D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lv_bEAAAQBAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&lpg=PA41&dq=Lorenza%20Jordan%20Cole&pg=PA41#v=onepage&q=Lorenza%20Jordan%20Cole&f=false |title=Merze Tate: The Global Odyssey of a Black Woman Scholar |date=2023-11-21 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-27481-3 |pages=41 |language=en}}{{Cite news |date=1932-01-22 |title=Pianist Returns from Year Spent Abroad in Study |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/california-eagle-pianist-returns-from-ye/164419432/ |access-date=2025-02-01 |work=California Eagle |pages=1 |via=Newspapers.com}} She earned a degree in music education from UCLA in 1942.

Cole played concerts for radio in Ohio. She gave "a recital of musical import" at the Women's Century Club in Seattle in 1928,{{Cite journal |date=October 1928 |title=Lorenza Jordan Cole Recital |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=04YthAw_4_oC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=Lorenza%20Jordan%20Cole&pg=RA8-PA21#v=onepage&q=Lorenza%20Jordan%20Cole&f=false |journal=Music and Musicians |volume=14 |pages=21}} and at the Civic Club in New York City in 1929.[https://books.google.com/books?id=SwPF5SXGm6kC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=Lillie%20M.%20Hubbard&pg=RA2-PA127#v=onepage&q=Lillie%20M.%20Hubbard&f=false "Along the Color Line"] The Crisis (April 1929): 127.{{Cite news |date=1929-03-09 |title=Lorenza Jordan Cole, Young Pianist from Seattle, Wash., Wins Favor in New York Debut at the Civic Club |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-new-york-age-lorenza-jordan-cole-yo/164413203/ |access-date=2025-02-01 |work=The New York Age |pages=7 |via=Newspapers.com}} In 1931, she gave a recital in Geneva, Switzerland, featuring works by Nathaniel Dett and Samuel Coleridge- Taylor.{{Cite book |last=Owens |first=Patricia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dDcWEQAAQBAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&lpg=PA38&dq=Lorenza%20Jordan%20Cole&pg=PA38#v=onepage&q=Lorenza%20Jordan%20Cole&f=false |title=Erased: A History of International Thought Without Men |date=2025-03-11 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-26644-2 |pages=38 |language=en}} She gave a benefit concert in Los Angeles in 1932,{{Cite news |date=1932-03-25 |title=Plan Recital |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/california-eagle-plan-recital/164411199/ |access-date=2025-02-01 |work=California Eagle |pages=1, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/california-eagle-lorenza-cole-in-recital/164411342/ 11] |via=Newspapers.com}} accompanied Florence Cole Talbert in 1933,{{Cite news |date=1933-04-04 |title=Soprano Recital Due on Thursday |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-pasadena-post-soprano-recital-due-on/164414066/ |access-date=2025-02-01 |work=The Pasadena Post |pages=3 |via=Newspapers.com}} and toured as a concert pianist in 1920s and 1930s.{{Cite news |date=1927-07-22 |title=Lorenza Jordan Cole in Recital at the Second Baptist Church |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/california-eagle-lorenza-jordan-cole-in/164413637/ |access-date=2025-02-01 |work=California Eagle |pages=1 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=1926-05-27 |title=Music Lovers to Have Treat in Lorenza Jordan Cole Concert |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-news-music-lovers-to-have-trea/164413491/ |access-date=2025-02-01 |work=The Times-News |pages=6 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=1939-05-05 |title=Music Head to Tour |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-northwest-enterprise-music-head-to-t/164412250/ |access-date=2025-02-01 |work=The Northwest Enterprise |pages=1 |via=Newspapers.com}}

Cole was head of the piano department at Tuskegee Institute from 1936 to 1939,{{Cite journal |date=October 1, 1959 |title=Weddings |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gUEDAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA39&dq=Lorenza%20Jordan%20Cole&pg=PA39#v=onepage&q=Lorenza%20Jordan%20Cole&f=false |journal=Jet |pages=39}}{{Cite book |last=Pool |first=Jeannie Gayle |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oimX0EvY8MwC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&lpg=PA89&dq=Lorenza%20Jordan%20Cole&pg=PA92#v=onepage&q=Lorenza%20Jordan%20Cole&f=false |title=American Composer Zenobia Powell Perry: Race and Gender in the 20th Century |date=2008-12-19 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-6377-4 |pages=92 |language=en}} and a music educator in Los Angeles,{{Cite book |last=Graaf |first=Lawrence B. de |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BlhDCgAAQBAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&lpg=PA257&dq=Lorenza%20Jordan%20Cole&pg=PA272#v=onepage&q=Lorenza%20Jordan%20Cole&f=false |title=Seeking El Dorado: African Americans in California |last2=Mulroy |first2=Kevin |last3=Taylor |first3=Quintard |date=2014-07-01 |publisher=University of Washington Press |isbn=978-0-295-80531-3 |pages=272 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Catherine Parsons |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vyfe1BwwzzgC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&lpg=PA174&dq=Lorenza%20Jordan%20Cole&pg=PA175#v=onepage&q=Lorenza%20Jordan%20Cole&f=false |title=Making Music in Los Angeles: Transforming the Popular |date=2007-10-16 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-93383-5 |pages=175 |language=en}} She taught music at Belvedere Junior High School for 22 years, and started the school's orchestra.{{Cite book |last=Williams |first=Ora |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yGLB0XVE6QcC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&lpg=PA245&dq=Lorenza%20Jordan%20Cole&pg=PR35#v=onepage&q=Lorenza%20Jordan%20Cole&f=false |title=American Black Women in the Arts and Social Sciences: A Bibliographic Survey |date=2003 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0-8108-4660-9 |pages=xxxv-xxxvi |language=en}} She gave an oral history interview to Bette Yarbrough Cox in the 1980s.Cox, Bette Yarbrough. [https://californiarevealed.org/do/75d55f7c-1fd9-4425-b788-001764e19e6a "Oral history interview with Lorenza Jordan Cole"] (1980s), for the Black Experience as Expressed through Music (BEEM) series, Musical Heroes and Heroines in the Black Community of Southern California, UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive.

Cole was an active member of Delta Sigma Theta in Los Angeles.{{Cite news |date=1956-02-02 |title=Two Hundred & Fifty Guests Enjoyed Delta's Annual Event |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/california-eagle-two-hundred-fifty-gue/164414469/ |access-date=2025-02-01 |work=California Eagle |pages=7 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=1956-02-03 |title=Tailor civic activities to fit home life, Deltas are told |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/los-angeles-tribune-tailor-civic-activit/164414704/ |access-date=2025-02-01 |work=Los Angeles Tribune |pages=10 |via=Newspapers.com}}

In 1917, Jordan married Thomas Augustus Cole and moved to Seattle.{{Cite news |date=1917-09-29 |title=Society Aglow |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/california-eagle-society-aglow/164418950/ |access-date=2025-02-01 |work=California Eagle |pages=1 |via=Newspapers.com}} They had daughters Sybil (who died from pneumonia in 1922, at age 4) and Yvonne. Her husband died in 1990, and Cole died in 1994, at the age of 96, in Los Angeles.

{{reflist}}

• [https://californiarevealed.org/do/db130b46-682d-49f9-8a48-42c147289f07 "Lorenza Jordan Cole with Belvedere Orchestra"], a photograph taken in the 1940s, in the Bette Cox Collection, UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive
• Williams, Charles (December 11, 1948). [https://calisphere.org/item/bc5fb9cf6bfa659240396edac0764b79/ "Recital, Los Angeles, 1948"], a photograph of Cole in the Tom & Ethel Bradley Center collection, California State University at Northridge

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Category:1897 births

Category:1994 deaths

Category:Juilliard School alumni

Category:University of Cincinnati – College-Conservatory of Music alumni

Category:Tuskegee University faculty

Category:American women pianists

Category:American music educators