The music world is mourning the loss of two-time Grammy Award-winning jazz singer, songwriter and producer Cassandra Wilson. Wilson died this morning (September 2) in Jackson, Mississippi. She was 70.
Wilson's manager for 20 years, Robert Torre, released this statement to WBGO:
"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."
The unique vocalist from Jackson, Mississippi was described by critic Gary Giddins 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 first met Cassandra Wilson at the studios in Newark in 1982 before she was famous. She was married at the time to then-WBGO weekend announcer Anthony Wilson. The couple had just moved to New York from the South. During Cassandra's first chat with Gary she told him she was jazz singer who wanted to test her mettle in the jazz capital of the world. Gary was saddened to hear of her passing today.
"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."
Listen to Gary Walker's wonderful 2017 conversation with Cassandra Wilson and Irish singer Liam O Maonlai here.
Fellow NEA Jazz Master and WBGO legendary staffer Dorthaan Kirk says news of Cassandra's death is hard to process. Kirk says they were basically family and Cassandra referred to her as "Mother Kirk".
"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."
Dorthaan fondly remembers taking Cassandra to Lush Life in Greenwich Village. It was the first time Cassandra had visited a jazz club in New York City. "DK" also knew early on that Cassandra would become a 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 began playing piano at six, guitar by the age of twelve and was working as a vocalist by the mid-'70s, singing a wide variety of material. After moving to New York City in the early 80’s, Cassandra met saxophonist Steve Coleman and became one of the founding members of the M-Base Collective.
At the completion of her stint with M-Base, Cassandra sought a more acoustic context for her vocal expression. She signed with Blue Note Records in 1992 and released a landmark album titled "Blue Light 'Till Dawn" which would pave the way for a new generation of jazz singers seeking an approach and repertoire that challenged the supremacy of the American Standard songbook.
Wilson has continued interpreting in fresh and creative ways jazz, vintage blues, country and folk music. Her awards include: two Grammys, the Django D’Or, The Edison Music Award, and a marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail. On March 2022, Wilson was awarded the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master's Fellowship. She also performed one of the leading roles in Wynton Marsalis' "Blood on the Fields", the first jazz work to receive a Pulitzer Prize.
In 2015, Cassandra Wilson joined forces with the prestigious label, Legacy, a subsidiary of Sony Music.
The National Endowment of the Arts named Wilson as 2022 NEA Jazz Master alongside Stanley Clarke, Billy Hart, and Donald Harrison.
Cassandra Wilson was a true friend of WBGO and will be greatly missed.
