Cassandra Wilson

CASSANDRA WILSON never fails to surprise and inspire. Sexy, honey-velvet vocals wrapped around her own jazzy blue compositions or inventive interpretations of others’ material led Time magazine to name her “America’s Best Singer” in recent years. On her recent CD Thunderbird, which Blue Note Records released in 2006, she collaborated with red-hot producer T Bone Burnett to surprise, yet again. The voice is more visual than audible; shaded, iridescent, tangible, substantial. It seems to flow effortlessly.
 
Read any of the dozen or so biographies on Wilson and you’ll discover some basics: born and reared in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960s and ’70s by musician and educator parents, she studied piano for 13 years and played clarinet in the concert and marching bands of junior high school. During the ’70s, she could be found performing Joni Mitchell songs behind an acoustic guitar, or in front of a large funk band, or in the company of long-time friends in an all-girls band.
 
In the ’80s, Wilson moved to New Orleans, and performed with Earl Turbinton and Ellis Marsalis. Quite by accident, she was relocated to East Orange, New Jersey, where she made a decision to take her chances on the New York jazz scene. After a stint as the main vocalist with Steve Coleman’s M-Base Collective, Wilson began recording on her own. Her development can be tracked through her discography. From the standards on Blue Skies to the Grammy-winning New Moon Daughter, to the combination of originals and interpretations played by a collection of Mississippi and New York musicians on both the 2001 release, Belly of the Sun, and 2003’s Glamoured, Cassandra continues to evolve as a vocalist, songwriter, and producer.
 
In 2000, Wilson returned to Mississippi to establish Ojah Media Group. Ojah, a Yoruba word meaning, “the marketplace,” is an independent multimedia entity dedicated to documenting and marketing the unique sounds emanating from Mississippi’s fertile soil and its multi-cultural influences. Ojah’s premiere artist, singer-songwriter Rhonda Richmond, released her first CD, Oshogbo Town (produced by Wilson and engineered by Sean Mackie) in 2003. Richmond’s second CD, Rhythm and Strings, another Wilson/Mackie collaboration, was released in 2006. Inspired by the Yoruba deity Oshun, both Oshogbo Town and Rhythm and Strings feature the original compositions and arrangements for which Richmond is celebrated.
 
Cassandra Wilson is a world-renowned vocalist, songwriter, and producer with an extraordinary following, but at heart she is still a Mississippi girl whose art reflects her deep musical and cultural roots, anchored in the fertile Mississippi soil. Her newest CD is the recently released Loverly (2008, Blue Note).