‘Vocal Master’ Cassandra Wilson, Who Expanded Jazz’s Boundaries, Dies at 70

[Financial News] Cassandra Wilson, the American singer whose subtle, husky lower register broadened the boundaries of jazz to include blues, pop and folk, has died. She was 70.
The New York Times (NYT) reported on the 2nd, local time, that Wilson died that day in her hometown of Jackson, Mississippi. 
With a distinctive low register reminiscent of billowing smoke, Wilson was one of the vocalists who defined the jazz scene from the 1980s onward. She was praised for expanding the scope of jazz vocals by reinterpreting not only jazz but also blues, folk, pop and country music in her own style.
Time magazine named Wilson “the best singer in America” in 2001.
Born in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1955, Wilson grew up with a musician father and a teacher mother. She began learning piano at age 6 and was playing guitar by age 12.
After moving to New York in the 1980s, she gained recognition as a founding member of M-Base, an experimental jazz collective led by saxophonist Steve Coleman.
A turning point in Wilson’s musical career came with the release of Blue Light ’Til Dawn in 1993. On the album, she reinterpreted songs by Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison and blues legend Robert Johnson.
Popular success followed.
New Moon Daughter, released in 1995, sold more than 400,000 copies—an extraordinary figure for a jazz album—and earned her her first Grammy Award.
Wilson also received a Grammy Award in 2008. In 2022, she was named a Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), one of the highest honors bestowed on jazz musicians in the United States.
Wilson also had close ties to jazz legends.
She opened for a Miles Davis performance and later toured with Wynton Marsalis.
Wilson’s final studio recording was Coming Forth by Day, released in 2015 as a tribute to legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday.

[email protected] Lee Seok-woo, International Affairs Specialist Reporter