Dr. Lenora Z. Helm Hammonds is a Chicago IL native, Former U.S. Jazz Ambassador two-time Fulbright Senior Music Specialist, and a tenured, Associate Professor in the Department of Music and Jazz Studies Program at North Carolina Central University (NCCU). She is Interim Chair for the Department of Music and Director of Graduate Programs, Jazz Studies. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in vocal jazz performance, jazz ear training, jazz pedagogy and songwriting, and is Director of NCCU Vocal Jazz Ensemble. Dr. Hammonds has authored several academic and student initiatives, including the planning, design, and coordination of an NEA-sponsored Teaching Artist Certificate program. The inaugural recipient of the 2022 Jazz Educator of Distinction award from Jazz Music Awards foundation, her 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, NCCU’s Excellence in Teaching Award, and receiving the highest faculty honor, the 2021 University of North Carolina Board of Governors 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 earned 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 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 a published author with Routledge, Taylor & Francis, and Springer.

Her achievements in academia are in addition to more than three decades as a recording artist. P/K/A Lenora Zenzalai Helm, she is acclaimed as a jazz vocalist, vocal musicianship coach, lyricist, composer, arranger, and big band bandleader. She has seven commercially released recordings, her own recording and publishing company, Baoule Works Music Publishing, and an extensive discography with internationally renowned names in jazz and contemporary music. Her indie jazz record label, Zenzalai Music, was elected as a BIMA Accelerator recipient. She is also a 2021-22 Chamber Music America Residency Presenting Jazz Consortium recipient, awarded to present her 11-song suite, Journeywoman, in virtual concerts. Her achievements garnered accolades as “…the voice of her generation,” by Jazziz Magazine. Her 2022 film score projects include The Problem of the Hero (David zum Brunnen) and Finding Home (Savannah Washington). Composer highlights include jazz composer awards from Chamber Music America/Doris Duke’s New Jazz Works, a MacDowell Colony composer fellowship, and scoring music for ESPN Black History Month ads. Her seventh CD, For the Love of Big Band, features her newly formed ensemble, The Tribe Jazz Orchestra® and reached JazzWeek’s top 50 radio list. 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 men and women, veteran and emerging musicians from around the globe, based in North Carolina. An eighth recording, Sister Joy, is slated for first quarter 2023. Visit her at www.LenoraHelm.com.