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Dr. Lenora Zenzalai Helm (Hammonds)

Vocal Jazz Musician, Educator, Composer

About Me

Chicago IL native, Former U.S. Jazz Ambassador and Fulbright Senior Music Specialist, Dr. Lenora Z. Helm Hammonds is an Associate Professor in the Department of Music and Jazz Studies Program at North Carolina Central University (NCCU). She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in vocal jazz performance, ear training, composition and songwriting, directs the NCCU Vocal Jazz Ensemble (12 voices and rhythm section) and has authored a number of academic and student initiatives, including the planning, design and coordination of an NEA-sponsored Teaching Artist Certificate program. Academic award highlights include a Duke University-NCCU John Hope Franklin Digital Humanities Fellowship, 2018 Javett Music Award International Jazz Scholar at University of Pretoria, South Africa, a 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award from Marquis Publishing and NCCU’s Excellence in Teaching Award. Lenora’s dream for creating access to under-served global populations interested in vocal jazz education was realized in the creation of a library of online vocal training programs at www.LenoraHelm.online. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Film Scoring and Voice from Berklee College of Music, a Master of Music, Jazz Performance from East Carolina University and is a doctoral candidate for a Doctor of Musical Arts in Music Education from Boston University. Her research interests are at the intersection of digital humanities, intercultural competence and Jazz, and is published by Routledge and Springer.

Her achievements in academia are in addition to more than three decades as a recording artist. Professionally known as Lenora Zenzalai Helm, she is acclaimed as a jazz vocalist, vocal musicianship coach, composer, lyricist and big band bandleader. Her achievements include seven commercially released recordings, her own recording and publishing company, Zenzalai Music, and an extensive discography with internationally renowned names in jazz and contemporary music. She is a 2021-22 Chamber Music America Presenter Consortium for Jazz recipient, awarded to present her original compositions in concert. Her achievements garnered accolades as “...the voice of her generation,” by Jazziz Magazine. She has appeared in renowned jazz festivals and venues worldwide, including Jazz at Lincoln Center, Schomburg Center's Women in Jazz Festival, JVC Jazz Festivals, Clifford Brown Jazz Festival, Capetown Jazz Festival, South Africa and Fiji Jazz & Blues Festival. Brief composer highlights include jazz composer awards from CMA/Doris Duke’s New Jazz Works, a MacDowell Colony composer fellowship, and scoring music for ESPN Black History Month ads. Her sixth release, I Love Myself When I’m Laughing, was listed on Independent Ear’s 30 Recommended Record Releases amongst an esteemed list of jazz artists. Her newest project was released March, 2020, her seventh release, is titled For The Love of Big Band and features her newly formed ensemble, The Tribe Jazz Orchestra®. The project comprises twenty musicians, with three generations of men and women performing American jazz classics and contemporary favorites utilizing innovative instrumentation. Inspired to change the face of large ensembles usually lacking gender diversity, Tribe Jazz Orchestra is Lenora’s effort to bring together a diverse group of veteran and emerging musicians from around the globe, based in North Carolina. Her most current composition project is scoring the indie film, Native, based on a relationship of literary greats Richard Wright and Paul Green around a theatrical presentation of Wright’s Native Son. Married to Fred Hammonds, she is the step-mom to two sons and ten grandchildren and makes her home in Durham, NC Visit her at www.LenoraHelm.com

My Jazz Story

I was first exposed to jazz...by my dad, Reginald Helm - an oil on canvas painter - and I would sit on his lap as a child while he painted, listening to all the amazing jazz music he loved. My dad is no longer living, but jazz and his memory, and those beautiful oil canvas paintings of his are emblazoned in my heart!