Cassandra Wilson
Cassandra Wilson
Cassandra Wilson is an American jazz musician, vocalist, songwriter, and producer from Jackson, Mississippi. Described by critic Gary Giddins as "a singer blessed with an unmistakable timbre and attack expanded the playing field" by incorporating blues, country, and folk music into her work, Wilson has won two Grammy Awards...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionJazz Singer
Date of Birth4 December 1955
CityJackson, MS
CountryUnited States of America
I'm always looking for ways to develop as a Jazz artist, to find different ways of using my voice.
My grandmother sang, too, and she was really loud. It was this wild kind of singing. I count her among my influences.
Being black, I'm involved in the reparations movement. It's focused toward the African-American audience. We could begin to heal.
There was a train that would come by our house every night, and I'd hear the whistle blow. That is the sweetest memory I have.
Miles Davis was a master. In every phase of his career, he understood that this music was a tribute to the African muse.
I'm always imagining some sort of story behind the song, even the ones I haven't written. I'm actively engaging in playacting.
I know you're supposed to set goals for yourself. I see all that motivational stuff on television. Think about the future, what's next! But I'm all into the journey. It's fascinating to me. So if I make certain what I want moment to moment, I'm cool at the crossroads.
I've been singing since I was 5 years old. Not in-the-church-thing kind of way. I always made up music. Since I was a little girl. Improvisation was with me from the beginning. It drove my parents crazy. I would sing all the time. To anything. Television show themes. I loved to imitate the sounds.
Everything I do is collaborative. It's just my way. I'm really very interested in how the other musicians perceive the song.
Miles Davis was doing something inherently African, something that has to do with all forms of American music, not just jazz.
I was never interested in singing in the church or school. I was more interested in becoming a musician.
I cringed when I heard myself described as a Jazz singer. I've always thought of myself as a Jazz vocalist.
My father had all kinds of instruments in the house that he would hide from my mother. He bought them through mail order!