Jazz Articles about Cassandra Wilson

Cassandra Wilson: Loverly

by Chris May
June 4, 2008

Cassandra Wilson's Loverly is amongst the singer's most straight-ahead and stripped down albums since her debut for Blue Note fifteen years ago with Blue Light 'Til Dawn (Blue Note, 1993). Self-produced, and recorded in a rented house in her hometown of Jackson, Mississippi with little artifice, simple arrangements and a great sound, Wilson and a core quintet of regular playing partners deliver ten standards, Robert Johnson's “Dust My Blues," and one band original, the West African-derived “Arere."

Wilson ...

Cassandra Wilson: Thunderbird

by C. Michael Bailey
April 19, 2006

Jazz vocalist Cassandra Wilson reached the fulcrum of her career with the refreshingly organic Blue Light 'Til Dawn. Her releases before this 1993 Blue Note debut, including M-Base Collective collaborations in the 1980s, were warmly received if not completely inspired. With Blue Light, Wilson changed her creative paradigm, performing older and more eclectic music in a ferociously rustic and transmogrified manner. This spirit infused Wilson's next four Blue Note recordings, highlighting her expansive vocal palette. With the release of her ...

Cassandra Wilson: Thunderbird

by Jim Santella
April 5, 2006

Cassandra Wilson sings blues the way they should be interpreted. For her latest album, she adds a little pop and hip-hop to the formula, reminding us that jazz and blues both started out as popular music of the day. Programmed drums and a mechanical rhythm appear side by side with Wilson's earthy vocals as she interprets an eclectic program of originals and blues classics.

Hip-hop ambience, multitracked voices, a techno-dance beat and mesmerizing rhythms color “Go to Mexico, ...

Cassandra Wilson: Thunderbird

by AAJ Italy Staff
April 3, 2006

A tre anni da Glamoured, a tredici dal capolavoro Blue Light 'Til Down, Cassandra Wilson sembra aver definitivamente preso confidenza con la scrittura più che con la reinterpretazione originale di classici. Prodotto da T Bone Burnett, Thunderbird, è il disco della svolta dell'artista afroamericana nata a Jackson, Mississipi. Un CD che riassume tutto il suo passato, aggiornandolo. L'artista scrive sei brani su dieci e a suo modo interpreta “Closer to You" di Jakob Dylan come se fosse un brano dei ...

Cassandra Wilson: She Who Weeps

by Celeste Sunderland
July 5, 2004

The timbre of Cassandra Wilson’s voice is like an opal—incomparably beautiful, deliciously pearlescent, graceful, rich, and eternally strong. On She Who Weeps, originally recorded in 1990 and rereleased last January, lyrics bare little importance. The descriptive quality of words takes a back seat to Wilson’s innate ability to instantly create an atmosphere and strike emotional chords merely by spreading her lips and exercising her larynx.

The disc starts off with a romp through Wilson’s own composition “Iconic Memories.” The slight ...

Cassandra Wilson

by WBGO 88.3FM
January 31, 2004

WBGO-FM Midday Jazz host Rhonda Hamilton interviews singer Cassandra Wilson about her life and her new CD Belly of the Sun.

Rhonda Hamilton: On Belly of the Sun you took inspiration from the Mississippi Delta where it was recorded. You are from Mississipi, born in Jackson, and you decided to go home to make this album, why?

Cassandra Wilson: Well, I felt it was time to go home. I have been recording in New York since the beginning of my ...

Cassandra Wilson: Glamoured

by Mike Perciaccante
January 16, 2004

Cassandra Wilson possesses one of the most recognizable voices in modern jazz. On Glamoured, she again delivers a wonderfully realized album with just the right mix of well-chosen, eclectic covers (Sting's “Fragile," Willie Nelson's “Crazy," Muddy Waters' “Honey Bee" and Bob Dylan's “Lay Lady Lay") and immensely catchy originals ("Heaven Knows" “On This Train," “I Want More" and “Sleight Of Time").

Glamoured is a bluesy affair. Much of the album is centered on the feelings of love, ...