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Cassandra Wilson

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Cassandra Wilson
Cassandra Wilson in 2007
Cassandra Wilson in 2007
Background information
Born(1955-12-04)December 4, 1955(age 68)
Jackson, Mississippi,U.S.
GenresJazz
Occupation(s)Singer
Years active1985–present
LabelsJMT,Blue Note
Websitecassandrawilson

Cassandra Wilson(born December 4, 1955) is an Americanjazzsinger, songwriter, and producer fromJackson, Mississippi.[1]She is one of the most successful female jazz singers and has been described by criticGary Giddins[2]as "a singer blessed with an unmistakabletimbreandattack[who has] expanded the playing field "by incorporatingblues,country,andfolk musicinto her work. She has won numerous awards, including two Grammys,[3]and was named "America's Best Singer" by Time magazine in 2001.[4]

Early life and career[edit]

Cassandra Wilson is the third and youngest child ofHerman Fowlkes, Jr.,a guitarist, bassist, and music teacher;[5]and Mary McDaniel, an elementary school teacher who earned her PhD in education. Her ancestry includesFon,Yoruba,IrishandWelsh.Between her mother's love forMotownand her father's dedication to jazz, Wilson's parents sparked her early interest in music.[6]

Wilson's earliest formal musical education consisted of classical lessons; she studied piano from the age of six to thirteen and played clarinet in the middle school concert andmarching bands.[6]When she was tired of this training, she asked her father to teach her the guitar. Instead, he gave her a lesson in self-reliance, suggesting she studyMel Baymethod books. Wilson explored guitar on her own, developing what she has described as an "intuitive" approach. During this time she began writing her own songs, adopting afolk style.She also appeared in the musical theater productions, includingThe Wizard of Ozas Dorothy, crossing racial lines in a recently desegregated school system.

Wilson attendedMillsaps CollegeandJackson State University.She graduated with a degree inmass communications.Outside of the classroom, she spent her nights working with R&B, funk, and popcover bands,also singing in local coffeehouses. The Black Arts Music Society, founded by John Reese andAlvin Fielder,provided her with her first opportunities to performbebop.In 2007, Wilson received her PhD in Arts fromMillsaps College.

In 1981, she moved to New Orleans for a position as assistant public affairs director for the local television station, WDSU. She did not stay long. Working with mentors who included elder statesmen Earl Turbinton,Alvin Batiste,andEllis Marsalis,Wilson found encouragement to seriously pursue jazz performance and moved to New York City the following year.

Musical association with M-Base[edit]

In New York, Wilson's focus turned towards improvisation. Heavily influenced by singersAbbey LincolnandBetty Carter,she fine-tuned her vocal phrasing andscatwhile studyingear trainingwith trombonistGrachan Moncur, III.Frequenting jam sessions under the tutelage of pianistSadik Hakim,aCharlie Parkeralumnus, she met alto saxophonistSteve Coleman,who encouraged her to look beyond the standard jazz repertoire in favor of developing original material. She would become the vocalist and one of the founding members of theM-Basecollective in which Coleman was the leading figure, a stylistic outgrowth of theAssociation for the Advancement of Creative Musicians(AACM) andBlack Artists Group(BAG) that re-imagined the grooves of funk and soul within the context of traditional andavant-garde jazz.Peter Watrous in an article forThe New York Timesstates:

The M-Base group in Brooklyn, working with both jazz and pop forms, makes music that at first sounds like funk from the 1970s. Like the music played by Mr. Marsalis (and his brotherWynton) the music made by M-Base - Steve Coleman, withGreg Osby,Cassandra Wilson andGeri Allen– is, at its best, filled with subtle ideas working behind the mask of popular music. In Mr. Coleman's group a singer is supported by an electric bass, guitar, drums and electric keyboards, a shiny musical mix that has familiar rock and funk references; yet, because of all its rhythmic and metric manipulations, sounds new.[7]

Although the voice – typically treated as the focal point of any arrangement in which it is included – was not an obvious choice for M-Base's complex textures or harmonically elaborated melodies, Wilson wove herself into the fabric of these settings with wordless improv and lyrics. She can be heard on Coleman's debut as a leaderMotherland Pulse(1985), then as member of hisFive ElementsonOn the Edge of Tomorrow(1986),World Expansion(1986),Sine Die(1987), and on M-Base Collective's sole recording as a large ensembleAnatomy of a Groove(1992).

At the same time, Wilson toured with avant-garde trioNew Airfeaturing alto saxophonistHenry Threadgilland recordedAir Show No. 1(1987) in Italy. A decade her senior and an AACM member, Threadgill has been lauded as a composer for his ability to transcend stylistic boundaries, a trait he and Wilson share.

Solo career[edit]

Like fellow M-Base artists, Wilson signed to the Munich-based, independent labelJMT.She released her first recording as a leaderPoint of Viewin 1986. Like the majority of her JMT albums that followed, originals by Wilson in keeping with M-Base dominated these sessions; she would also record material by and co-written with Coleman,Jean-Paul Bourelly,and James Weidman as well as a few standards. Her throatycontraltogradually emerges over the course of these recordings, making its way to the foreground. She developed a remarkable ability to stretch and bend pitches, elongate syllables, manipulate tone and timbre from dusky to hollow.[8]

While these recordings established her as a serious musician, Wilson received her first broad critical acclaim for the album of standards recorded in the middle of this period,Blue Skies(1988). Her signing withBlue Note Recordsin 1993 marked a crucial turning point in her career and major breakthrough to audiences beyond jazz with albums selling in the hundreds of thousands of copies.

Beginning withBlue Light 'Til Dawn(1993) her repertoire moved towards a broad synthesis of blues, pop, jazz, world music, and country. Although she continued to perform originals and standards, she adopted songs as diverse asRobert Johnson's "Come On in My Kitchen",Joni Mitchell's "Black Crow",The Monkees' "Last Train to Clarksville",andHank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry".

Wilson's 1996 albumNew Moon Daughterwon theGrammyforBest Jazz Vocal Performance.[3]In 1997, she recorded and toured as a featured vocalist withWynton Marsalis'Pulitzer Prizewinning composition,Blood on the Fields.

Miles Daviswas one of Wilson's greatest influences. In 1989, Wilson performed as the opening act for Davis at theJVC Jazz Festivalin Chicago. In 1999 she producedTraveling Milesas a tribute to Davis. The album developed from a series of jazz concerts that she performed atLincoln Centerin November 1997 in Davis' honor, and includes three selections based on Davis' own compositions, from which Wilson adapted the original themes.

Personal life[edit]

Wilson was married to Anthony Wilson from 1981 to 1983.[9]

She has a son, Jeris, born in the late 1980s. Her song "Out Loud (Jeris' Blues)" on the albumShe Who Weepsis dedicated to him. For many years she and her son lived in New York City'sSugar Hill,in an apartment that once belonged toCount Basie,Lena Horneand the boxerJoe Louis.[10]

From 2000 to 2003 Wilson was married to actorIsaach de Bankolé,who directed her in the concert filmTraveling Miles: Cassandra Wilson(2000).[11]

Wilson and her mother are members ofAlpha Kappa Alphasorority.[12][13]

Awards and honors[edit]

Discography[edit]

As leader[edit]

Compilations

As guest[edit]

WithSteve Coleman

WithWynton Marsalis

WithThe Roots

With others

References[edit]

  1. ^"Cassandra Wilson on Allmusic".RetrievedNovember 23,2009.
  2. ^Giddins, Gary.(2000).Visions of Jazz: The First Century.Oxford University Press,ISBN978-0-19-513241-0,p. 643.
  3. ^abcd"All GRAMMY Awards and Nominations for Cassandra Wilson".grammy.July 28, 2023.RetrievedJuly 28,2023.
  4. ^Crouch, Stanley (July 9, 2001)."Cassandra Wilson".Time.ISSN0040-781X.RetrievedJuly 28,2023.
  5. ^Litweiler, John.Cassandra Wilson,Encyclopædia Britannica Online
  6. ^abLeland, John.GOING HOME WITH: Cassandra Wilson; Jazz Diva Follows Sound of Her Roots,The New York Times,March 7, 2002
  7. ^Watrous, Peter (December 31, 1989)."POP VIEW: Private Codes Enliven Jazz".The New York Times.
  8. ^Brian Priestley,Digby Fairweather,Ian Carr.Jazz, The Rough Guide,2nd Edition March 2000
  9. ^Jones, Charisse (September 29, 1994)."IN THE STUDIO WITH: Cassandra Wilson; Singing a Song of the South".The New York Times.
  10. ^Lewis, John (November 22, 2010)."The Big Interview Cassandra Wilson".The Metro.
  11. ^Bankolé, Isaach De,Traveling Miles: Cassandra Wilson(Documentary, Music), Cassandra Wilson, Regina Carter, Isaach De Bankolé,retrievedJuly 28,2023
  12. ^"Cassandra Wilson, Mississippi Musician and Singer of Jazz, Blues, and Popular Music".mswritersandmusicians.RetrievedFebruary 7,2023.
  13. ^"Famous Alpha Kappa Alpha Members - Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority - Pi Nu Omega Chapter".pinu Omega aka.org.RetrievedFebruary 7,2023.
  14. ^"Cassandra Wilson".Mississippi Blues Trail.RetrievedSeptember 15,2016.
  15. ^"Cassandra Wilson Signs to eOne Music".JazzTimes.March 26, 2012.RetrievedMay 23,2012.
  16. ^Tamarkin, Jeff."Legacy Recordings Signs Cassandra Wilson".jazztimes.Archived fromthe originalon December 22, 2015.RetrievedDecember 14,2014.

External links[edit]

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