Cassandra Wilson
8 April, 2010 at 12:01 pm in Uncategorized
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The Hit List
- Named “America’s Best Singer” by Time Magazine and CNN
- Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album for Loverly, 2009
- Closer To You: The Pop Side, reached top 5 in Billboard Top Jazz Albums in 2009
- Downbeat Reader's Poll for best female vocalist / Downbeat Critic's Poll for best female vocalist
- The Edison Award
- Montreal International Jazz Festival's Miles Davis Prix Award
- The 2009 Mississippi Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts
The voice is more visual than audible; shaded, iridescent, tangible, substantial. It seems to flow effortlessly.
Read any of the dozen or so biographies on Cassandra Wilson and you’ll discover some basics: born and reared in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960s and 70s by musician and educator parents. She studied piano for 13 years and played clarinet in the concert and marching bands of junior high school. During the 70s, she could be found performing Joni Mitchell songs behind an acoustic guitar, or singing with a blues band in Little Rock, Arkansas, in front of a large funk band in Jackson, or in the company of long-time friends in an all-girls ensemble. In the eighties, Cassandra moved to New Orleans, and performed with Earl Turbinton and Ellis Marsalis. She was relocated to East Orange, New Jersey where she made a decision to take her chances on the New York jazz scene. After a stint as the main vocalist with Steve Coleman’s M-Base Collective, Cassandra began recording on her own. Her development can be tracked through her discography. From the standards on Blue Skies to the Grammy-winning projects New Moon Daughter and Loverly, to the combination of originals and interpretations played by a collection of Mississippi and New York musicians on both the 2001 release, Belly of the Sun, and 2003’s Glamoured, Cassandra continues to evolve as a vocalist, songwriter, and producer.
Wilson has won numerous awards in recognition of her work: the Downbeat Reader's Poll for best female vocalist, the Downbeat Critic's Poll for best female vocalist, the Edison Award, the Django D'Or, Montreal International Jazz Festival's Miles Davis Prix Award, two Grammys in 1996 and 2009, and the 2009 Mississippi Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. In 2001, CNN and Time Magazine voted Cassandra Wilson America's Best Singer.
In 2000, Wilson returned to Mississippi to establish Ojah Media Group. Ojah, a Yoruba word meaning, “the marketplace”, is an independent multi-media entity dedicated to documenting and marketing the unique sounds emanating from Mississippi’s fertile soil, and its multi-cultural influences. Cassandra Wilson is a world renown vocalist, songwriter and producer, with an extraordinary following, but at heart she is still a Mississippi girl whose art reflects her deep musical and cultural roots, anchored in the fertile Mississippi soil.
The voice is more visual than audible; shaded, iridescent, tangible, substantial. It seems to flow effortlessly.
Read any of the dozen or so biographies on Cassandra Wilson and you’ll discover some basics: born and reared in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960s and 70s by musician and educator parents. She studied piano for 13 years and played clarinet in the concert and marching bands of junior high school. During the 70s, she could be found performing Joni Mitchell songs behind an acoustic guitar, or singing with a blues band in Little Rock, Arkansas, in front of a large funk band in Jackson, or in the company of long-time friends in an all-girls ensemble. In the eighties, Cassandra moved to New Orleans, and performed with Earl Turbinton and Ellis Marsalis. She was relocated to East Orange, New Jersey where she made a decision to take her chances on the New York jazz scene. After a stint as the main vocalist with Steve Coleman’s M-Base Collective, Cassandra began recording on her own. Her development can be tracked through her discography. From the standards on Blue Skies to the Grammy-winning projects New Moon Daughter and Loverly, to the combination of originals and interpretations played by a collection of Mississippi and New York musicians on both the 2001 release, Belly of the Sun, and 2003’s Glamoured, Cassandra continues to evolve as a vocalist, songwriter, and producer.
Wilson has won numerous awards in recognition of her work: the Downbeat Reader's Poll for best female vocalist, the Downbeat Critic's Poll for best female vocalist, the Edison Award, the Django D'Or, Montreal International Jazz Festival's Miles Davis Prix Award, two Grammys in 1996 and 2009, and the 2009 Mississippi Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. In 2001, CNN and Time Magazine voted Cassandra Wilson America's Best Singer.
In 2000, Wilson returned to Mississippi to establish Ojah Media Group. Ojah, a Yoruba word meaning, “the marketplace”, is an independent multi-media entity dedicated to documenting and marketing the unique sounds emanating from Mississippi’s fertile soil, and its multi-cultural influences. Cassandra Wilson is a world renown vocalist, songwriter and producer, with an extraordinary following, but at heart she is still a Mississippi girl whose art reflects her deep musical and cultural roots, anchored in the fertile Mississippi soil.