Helen Margaret Oakley Dance, née Oakley (February 15, 1913 – May 27, 2001) was a Canadian-American jazz journalist, record producer, and music historian. She is perhaps best known for record production (including Duke Ellington) and for her biography of

T-Bone Walker Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker (May 28, 1910 – March 16, 1975) was an American blues musician, composer, songwriter and bandleader, who was a pioneer and innovator of the jump blues, West Coast blues, and electric blues sounds. In 2018 ''R ...

. She was married to critic

Stanley Dance Stanley Frank Dance (15 September 1910, Braintree, Essex – 23 February 1999, Vista, California) was a British jazz writer, business manager, record producer, and historian of the Swing era. He was personally close to Duke Ellington over a lon ...

for over 50 years. Dance was born into a wealthy

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

family in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. Her great-grandfather, Joseph Simpson, started Joseph Simpson Knitting Mills. Dance's mother (née Mary Simpson) married John Oakley, who became the managing director of the Joseph Simpson Knitting Mills. Dance capped-off her "coming out" as a

debutante A debutante, also spelled débutante, ( ; from french: débutante , "female beginner") or deb is a young woman of aristocratic or upper-class family background who has reached maturity and, as a new adult, is presented to society at a formal ...

by attending a

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was bas ...

concert. A jazz enthusiast from an early age, she made efforts to become a singer, however had more success as a journalist and producer. Her first act of note in jazz history was in introducing Teddy Wilson to the

Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing". From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing big bands in the United States. His conc ...

Orchestra and persuaded them to play in Chicago. It was one of the first sit-down jazz concerts in America and was also significant because it was a public performance with an interracial ensemble. She later made other efforts to help interracial music collaboration, and was the host of significant parties and concerts for the jazz world. She also helped coordinate Benny Goodman's January 1938 Carnegie Hall concert - the first jazz concert at the venue.

Journalist

Dance was one of the earliest contributors to ''

DownBeat ' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Ch ...

'' magazine. At the time, there were no music reviewers in the US covering jazz (where as it was happening in Europe).

Record producer

Dance produced jazz records for

Okeh Records Okeh Records () is an American record label founded by the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, a phonograph supplier established in 1916, which branched out into phonograph records in 1918. The name was spelled "OkeH" from the initials of Ott ...

in the mid 1930s. She also produced much of

's small band work in the late 1930s. When issued, these records were usually credited to Ellington's sidemen

Cootie Williams Charles Melvin "Cootie" Williams (July 10, 1911 – September 15, 1985) was an American jazz, jump blues, and rhythm and blues trumpeter. Biography Born in Mobile, Alabama, Williams began his professional career at the age of 14 with the Y ...

Barney Bigard Albany Leon "Barney" Bigard (March 3, 1906 – June 27, 1980) was an American jazz clarinetist known for his 15-year tenure with Duke Ellington. He also played tenor saxophone. Biography Bigard was born in New Orleans to Creole parents, Ale ...

, Rex Stewart or Johnny Hodges, in order to differentiate them from the big band sound associated with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Among these recordings are Bigard's original hit version of " Caravan", Hodges' "Jeep's Blues" and Williams' "Dooji Wooji" (all written or co-written by Ellington). She started producing in Chicago but took a job working for

Irving Mills Irving Harold Mills (born Isadore Minsky; January 16, 1894 – April 21, 1985) was an American music publisher, musician, lyricist, and jazz artist promoter. He sometimes used the pseudonyms Goody Goodwin and Joe Primrose. Personal Mills was ...

in New York in 1937. Mills had two record labels, Master and Variety. Dance was the record producer for Variety which produced over 170 records during the label's brief existence.

Army Corps

Following the death of her brother during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, she joined the

Women's Army Corps The Women's Army Corps (WAC) was the women's branch of the United States Army. It was created as an auxiliary unit, the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) on 15 May 1942 and converted to an active duty status in the Army of the United States ...

and later did secret operations with the

Office of Strategic Services The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the intelligence agency of the United States during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines for all branc ...

. These primarily involved the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

region, particularly

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. After the war, she returned to the jazz world. She also relocated to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

for a time on marrying Stanley Dance. In 1959, the couple moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. In the 1960s, Dance became active in the

Civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

and was a founder of Catholic Interracial Council in

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the ...

. She also wrote for a diocesan publication that concerned racial and social justice. Her civil rights work also involved human rights organizations unrelated to Catholicism. In 1987, she wrote ''Stormy Monday: The T-Bone Walker Story''. The book was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001. Dance died in

Escondido, California Escondido is a city in San Diego County, California, United States. Located in the North County region, it was incorporated in 1888, and is one of the oldest cities in San Diego County. It has a population of 151,038 as of the 2020 census. Ety ...

at the age of 88. Her interment was located in Mission San Luis Rey Cemetery. She was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 2004.

References

External links

Jazz House obituary written by her sonDiana Potts Allmusic
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dance, Helen Oakley 1913 births 2001 deaths Roman Catholic writers Writers from Toronto Musicians from Toronto Jazz writers People from Escondido, California Women writers about music 20th-century American biographers American women biographers 20th-century Canadian women musicians 20th-century Canadian women writers 20th-century Canadian biographers Canadian women biographers Canadian women non-fiction writers Canadian record producers Canadian women record producers 20th-century American women writers Canadian emigrants to the United States