The Incomparable Cassandra Wilson!
By Alisha Reese, CMT
Special to the Jackson Advocate
“What a tremendous loss for the world of music and particularly jazz to have Cassandra Wilson not be with us anymore. Her unique styling, her undeniable vocal gift and talent can not be duplicated.”
Entertainer Vanessa Williams shared those words in a video for the family, reflecting the life and legacy of Cassandra Wilson.
A native of Jackson, Mississippi, Wilson will forever be remembered for her accomplishments as a jazz musician, songwriter and producer. Known as one of the most successful female jazz singers, her ability to incorporate bebop, blues, folk music and country is what made her style so unique. She’s won numerous awards, including two Grammys, and Time magazine named Wilson “America’s Best Singer” in 2001.
For Wilson, earning her musical stripes was inevitable; she was already accumulating traveling miles at a very young age. Born into a musical family; her father was a guitarist, bassist, and music teacher and her mother was a lover of Motown. She was introduced to classical music, began playing the piano at six, guitar by the age of twelve and was working as a vocalist by the mid-70’s, singing a variety of music. Wilson performed in school concerts and theater, appearing as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, a notable role that crossed racial lines within a recently desegregated school system.
A graduate from Murrah High School, she continued to pursue higher education by attending Millsaps College and Jackson State University, where she graduated with a degree in mass communications. She would spend evenings working with different R&B, funk and pop cover bands. The first opportunities to perform bebop occurred after meeting Black Arts Music Society (BAMS) founders John Reese and Alvin Fielder. In the late 70’s, BAMS presented jazz each Saturday afternoon at the Creative Exchange on Capitol Street. Local musicians were searching for something creative and artistic to do in Jackson; Wilson was one of them. She came from an era when jazz was more than music – It was life, and uplifting others was part of the rhythm. She was enthusiastic about bebop, music she described as straight-ahead jazz.
In 1981, she moved to New Orleans to work as assistant public affairs director at WDSU, but television would not carry her for long. Jazz had a way of saying, “you move me,” and with the right mentors around, she found encouragement to take her talents to the next level. The following year she moved to New York City. She immersed herself in the city’s evolving jazz scene, collaborating with innovative musicians, experimenting with sound and stepping forward as a solo artist. Those years sharpened her artistry and laid the groundwork for the breakthrough that would soon follow.
By the 1990s the world was listening. Wilson landed a record deal with Blue Note Records; critical acclaim and Grammy recognition followed, but the awards only told part of the story. She was special. Her voice, her love and her laughter would eventually reach audiences around the world, yet through it all, Jackson remained home. And right here in her hometown, the love ran deep. Wilson was honored with the Mississippi Governor’s Award for Artistic Excellence in Music, and in 2012 she introduced the city to the Yellow Scarf – a community-based listening room for Jackson, Mississippi, that focused primarily on original and improvisational music.
In 2023, Jackson celebrated its native daughter by naming her Grand Marshal of Hal’s St. Paddy’s Parade. Appropriately themed “40 Years of All That Jazz,” for Wilson, it was a full-circle moment – the city that knew her first celebrating the woman the world had come to know.
Her legacy will live on through the music she has created, the many lives she touched and the doors she opened for those coming behind her. Wilson will be deeply missed, but a voice like hers never truly leaves us. It holds strong in the places she loved, in the people who loved her and of course in her music. We will hear her, remember her and celebrate this beautiful soul – time after time.
I am grateful for the opportunity to write this tribute in honor of Cassandra Wilson. In May of this year, my only son got married and I picked “Time After Time” for one of our mother-son dances. That moment, that dance is even more special now and I am grateful I was able to share that with her. We have to give our family, friends and loved ones their flowers while they are living. When I selected her song I had no idea I would be writing this tribute four months later. Thank you, Cassandra, for the unconditional love and authenticity.
