Artist: Cassandra Wilson

Cassandra Wilson is an American jazz singer, songwriter, and producer. 

In 1981, she moved to New Orleans for a position as assistant public affairs director for the local television station, WDSU. She did not stay long. Working with mentors who included elder statesmen Earl Turbinton,  Alvin Batiste, and Ellis Marsalis, Wilson found encouragement to seriously pursue jazz performance and moved to New York City the following year. 

In New York, Wilson's focus turned towards improvisation. Heavily influenced by singers Abbey Lincoln and Betty Carter, she fine-tuned her vocal phrasing and scat  while studying ear training with trombonist Grachan Moncur, III. Frequenting jam sessions under the tutelage of pianist Sadik Hakim, a Charlie Parker alumnus, she met alto saxophonist  Steve Coleman, who encouraged her to look beyond the standard jazz repertoire in favor of developing original material.

She would become the vocalist and one of the founding members of the M-Base  collective in which Coleman was the leading figure, a stylistic outgrowth of the  Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) and Black Artists Group (BAG) that re-imagined the grooves of funk and soul within the context of traditional and avant-garde jazz. The M-Base group in Brooklyn, working with both jazz and pop forms, makes music that at first sounds like funk from the 1970s.

Beginning with Blue Light 'Til Dawn (1993) her repertoire moved towards a broad synthesis of blues, pop, jazz, world music, and country. Although she continued to perform originals and standards, she adopted songs as diverse as Robert Johnson's "Come On in My Kitchen", Joni Mitchell's "Black Crow", The Monkees' "Last Train to Clarksville", and Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry". 

Wilson's 1996 album New Moon Daughter won the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Performance. In 1997, she recorded and toured as a featured vocalist with Wynton Marsalis' Pulitzer Prize winning composition, Blood on the Fields. 

Further information about Cassandra Wilson is found at CassandraWilson.com.