Jazz Articles about Cassandra Wilson

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Cassandra Wilson: Belly Of The Sun

by Jim Santella
April 12, 2002

Returning to her Mississippi blues roots, singer Cassandra Wilson interprets the stories like no one else can. Her warm, contralto voice hypnotizes. Surrounded by the natural sound of her 6-piece touring band, Wilson settles in for a refreshing look at Americana. Plaintive guitar cries and hands-down percussion provide a natural landscape. Steel pans, dobro, hand drums, and gentle, foot-stompin' rhythms give her traditional session credibility.

Guests add variety. Boogaloo Ames supplies an unencumbered, barrelhouse accompaniment for two traditional songs. The ...

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Cassandra Wilson: Traveling Miles

by C. Michael Bailey
May 1, 1999

Critic's Note. AAJ 's Jim Santella reviewed Traveling Miles in the April issue of the magazine.

And Miles to Go. Cassandra Wilson has an original vocal and performance style in the same way the late Betty Carter did. They both are aggressively experimental in their phrasing with absolutely no qualms about pushing the envelope to the edge. They are both capable of seemingly approaching a devastating loss of control in their performance that is all of the time held firmly ...

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David Sanborn: Inside

by Ian Nicolson
May 1, 1999

Since the days when he left his hometown St Louis to play for the Butterfield Blues Band during the sixties Blues boom in California, Sanborn has worked hard at staying top dog among the LA studio sessioneers - and succeeded.He has also commuted effortlessly between sophisticated Jazzpop solo albums stressing his distinctive alto tone and R'n'B roots, and the occasional full-ahead Jazz outing - like 1990's Another Hand, or Upfront a year or two later. This time he's ...

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Cassandra Wilson: Traveling Miles

by Robert Middleton
May 1, 1999

Although there have been some great Miles tribute albums over the past few years, from the exquisite So Near, So Far by Joe Henderson to the incendiary Yo Miles by Henry Kaiser and Wadada Leo Smith, these two loving vocal tributes are in a class by themselves. And if you're not a big fan of vocal jazz (like myself) these two albums could just change your mind forever. Shirley Horn, an old friend of Miles, takes the more ...

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Cassandra Wilson: Traveling Miles

by Jim Santella
April 1, 1999

Like the career of Miles Davis, Traveling Miles stretches across various musical boundaries. Blending blues, folk, pop, and jazz on one album, singer Cassandra Wilson honors the legendary trumpeter with a sampling from his vast discography. The bebop echoes of “Seven Steps to Heaven," the dramatic modern mainstream modes of “ESP," the earthy fashion of “Resurrection Blues" and the ballad setting of “Blue in Green" create different images into which Wilson implants her deep contralto voice and unique charm. She ...