Cassandra Wilson, wey be two-time Grammy Award-winning jazz singer, songwriter, and producer, don die this morning for Jackson, Mississippi. She bin dey 70 years old.
Her manager for 20 years, Robert Torre, talk say: “It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Cassandra Wilson, the Grammy Award-winning and legendary jazz artist. Cassandra Wilson transitioned peacefully at home, surrounded by family, close friends, and her manager. Her family and close friends respectfully ask for privacy during this difficult time as they grieve her loss. Further information regarding memorial services and arrangements will be shared at a later time.”
Critic Gary Giddins bin describe am as “a singer blessed with an unmistakable timbre and attack who has expanded the playing field” by incorporating blues, country, and folk music into her work. WBGO’s “Daybreak” host Gary Walker, wey meet Cassandra for the studios for Newark for 1982 before she become famous, bin talk say: “There were no boundaries for Cassandra Wilson as to what she explored. And she did it with that sultry, smoky voice of hers, whether she was working on a Miles Davis re-imagination, approaching a great American Standard or approaching the world of Bob Dylan. Her rendition of Dylan’s ‘Lay Lady Lay’ is just phenomenal. Every time she approached a piece of music with that sultry, smoky vibe of hers, you thought ‘this is Cassandra’s music’ because it was.”
Fellow NEA Jazz Master and WBGO legendary staffer Dorthaan Kirk, wey Cassandra dey call “Mother Kirk,” talk say she dey devastated: “I’m just devastated. Cassandra completely related to me because she looked up to me as an elder and somebody that was in the business.” Kirk also remember say she take Cassandra go Lush Life for Greenwich Village, which be the first time Cassandra visit a jazz club for New York City. Kirk talk say she know early say Cassandra go become sensation: “I’m not a musician. I don’t know all the technical terms, but it’s about a feeling. There was something in her presentation like the way she sounded and played guitar. There was just a great feeling that I knew that something was there that was special. I thought she should be known by a wider and broader audience.”
Cassandra Wilson start to play piano at age six, guitar at twelve, and by mid-1970s, she bin dey work as vocalist with wide variety of material. After she move go New York City for early 80s, she meet saxophonist Steve Coleman and become one of the founding members of the M-Base Collective. After she finish her stint with M-Base, Cassandra search for more acoustic context for her vocal expression. She sign with Blue Note Records for 1992 and release landmark album, “Blue Light ‘Till Dawn,” which pave way for new generation of jazz singers.
Her awards include two Grammys, the Django D’Or, The Edison Music Award, and a marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail. For March 2022, Wilson receive the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master’s Fellowship. She also perform one of the leading roles for Wynton Marsalis’ “Blood on the Fields,” the first jazz work to receive a Pulitzer Prize. For 2015, Cassandra Wilson join forces with Legacy, a subsidiary of Sony Music. The National Endowment of the Arts name Wilson as 2022 NEA Jazz Master alongside Stanley Clarke, Billy Hart, and Donald Harrison. Cassandra Wilson bin be true friend of WBGO and go dey missed well well.
