Mississippi [US], September 3 (ANI): Two-time Grammy Award-winning jazz singer, songwriter and producer Cassandra Wilson has died at the age of 70, with the Hinds County Coroner Jeramiah Howard confirming that she died in her native Jackson, Mississippi, according to Page Six.
Wilson’s manager, in a statement to jazz radio station WBGO, said the singer “transitioned peacefully at home, surrounded by family, close friends, and her manager.”
“It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Cassandra Wilson, the Grammy Award-winning and legendary jazz artist,” the statement said, as per the outlet.
Described by Time magazine in 2001 as America’s best singer, Wilson was known for her genre-bending style that expanded the boundaries of traditional blues-based jazz. Her music incorporated elements of folk, pop, R&B, country and other genres, while her distinctive contralto remained central to her sound.
Jon Batiste, in a eulogy on Wednesday, described Wilson’s voice as one that sounded like “the South.”
Born and raised in Jackson to musician Herman B. Fowlkes and teacher Mary Fowlkes, Wilson developed an early interest in music, listening to Motown, Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk. She began piano lessons at the age of six, later played clarinet in marching bands and performed at coffeehouses and in cover bands while studying at Millsaps College and Jackson State University, according to Page Six.
In the early 1980s, Wilson mentored under jazz musicians in New Orleans before moving to New York City, where she joined Steve Coleman’s M-Base Collective and eventually became its main vocalist.
Her distinctive voice earned her four Grammy nominations and two wins for Best Jazz Vocal Album. She won in 1997 for ‘New Moon Daughter’ and again in 2009 for ‘Loverly’.
In 2015, Wilson performed a special concert at the Apollo Theater to mark the 100th birthday of legendary blues and jazz singer Billie Holiday. That same year, she released her final album, ‘Coming Forth by Day’, an homage to Holiday.
Wilson was named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master in 2022, one of the highest honours given to jazz musicians in the United States.
Tributes poured in following her death, with Batiste remembering Wilson’s influence on his own musical journey, according to Page Six.
“She had an unmistakable vocal tone, phrasing and her approach of weaving folkloric, R&B and diasporic music together with experimental and popular genres had a major impact on me,” Batiste said in an Instagram tribute.
“Her Mississippi heritage was always present in everything no matter how expansive her artistry evolved,” he added in the caption of a clip showing the two musicians together on Brazilian television in 2009. “She was one of the first people to take me on tour around the world, the great Cassandra Wilson.”
Jackson Mayor John Horhn also paid tribute to Wilson, saying the city “has lost an extraordinary native daughter, and the world has lost a singular musical voice.”
“Cassandra Wilson carried the sound, spirit and history of Mississippi with her wherever her music reached,” Horhn said in a statement shared with WJTV.
“Her work had rare depth of character and a profound understanding of how music moves people, tells stories and connects generations,” the mayor added, according to Page Six. (ANI)
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