Helen Jones Woods

Helen Jones Woods (born 1923) is a jazz and swing trombone player most renowned for her performances with the International Sweethearts of Rhythm. She was inducted into the Omaha Black Music Hall of Fame in 2007.

Helen Jones Woods
Born1923
Meridian, Mississippi, United States
Genresjazz, swing
Occupation(s)Musician, nurse
Instrumentstrombone

About

In her 1940s heyday, young Helen Elizabeth Jones was in the top female jazz band in the United States. She started playing with the group when she was only 11 years old, when it was still the "school band" of Piney Woods Country Life School in Mississippi. Her father, Laurence C. Jones, founded the school in 1909. Helen was one of six surviving members of the band interviewed in the 1986 documentary film International Sweethearts of Rhythm.[1]

After the band dissolved in 1949,[2] Jones moved to Omaha and worked as a licensed practical nurse at Douglas County Hospital.[3] Jones Woods and her husband, William Alfred Woods, lived in the Logan Fontenelle Housing Projects while he attended Creighton University. Upon graduating, he became the first African-American to earn an accounting degree there.[4] Wood's fourth child is Cathy Hughes, a successful business entrepreneur from Omaha.[4] Today, Jones Woods lives in North Omaha.

Family

See also
  • Music in Omaha
  • Culture in North Omaha, Nebraska

References
  1. Greta Schiller and Andrea Weiss (directors) (2007). International Sweethearts of Rhythm: America's Hottest All-Girl Band (DVD) (Newly restored ed.). New York, NY: Jezebel Productions. OCLC 123905581. 837101327985.
  2. Handy, D. Antoinette (1998). The International Sweethearts of Rhythm: The Ladies Jazz Band from Piney Woods Country Life School (Rev. ed.). Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. pp. 169–170. ISBN 9780810831605. OCLC 39024855.
  3. "Helen Jones Woods". The HistoryMakers. October 6, 2007. Retrieved November 12, 2019.
  4. Jones, Charisse (October 1998). "Owning the airwaves: Cathy Hughes buys radio stations for African-American programming". Essence. Vol. 29 no. 6. New York, NY.
  5. "Honoring Jazz's Historic Sweethearts". DownBeat. Vol. 78 no. 4. Chicago, IL. April 2011. p. D8.
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