Cassandra Wilson
Encyclopedia
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 [who has] expanded the playing field" by incorporating country
, blues
and folk music
into her work, Wilson has won two Grammy Awards.
, a guitarist, bassist and music teacher; and Mary McDaniel, an elementary school teacher who eventually earned her PhD in education. Between her mother’s love for Motown and her father’s dedication to jazz, Wilson’s parents sparked her early interest in music.
Wilson’s earliest formal musical education consisted of classical lessons; she studied piano from the age of six to thirteen and played clarinet in the middle school concert and marching band
s. When she tired of this training, she asked her father to teach her the guitar. Instead, he gave her a lesson in self-reliance, suggesting she study Mel Bay method books. Wilson explored guitar on her own, developing what she has described as an “intuitive” approach. During this time she began writing her own songs, adopting a folk style
. She also appeared in the musical theater productions, including The Wizard of Oz
as Dorothy, crossing racial lines in a recently desegregated school system.
For college, Wilson attended Millsaps College
and Jackson State University
. She graduated with a degree in mass communications. Outside of the classroom, she spent her nights working with R&B, funk, and pop cover band
s, also singing in local coffeehouses. The Black Arts Music Society, founded by John Reese and Alvin Fielder
, provided her with her first opportunities to perform bebop
.
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.
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
. Peter Watrous in an article for the New York Times states: "...the M-Base group in Brooklyn, working with both jazz and pop forms, makes music that at first sounds like funk from the 1970s. Like the music played by Mr. Marsalis (and his brother Wynton) the music made by M-Base - Steve Coleman, with Greg Osby, Cassandra Wilson and Geri Allen – is, at its best, filled with subtle ideas working behind the mask of popular music. In Mr. Coleman's group a singer is supported by an electric bass, guitar, drums and electric keyboards, a shiny musical mix that has familiar rock and funk references; yet, because of all its rhythmic and metric manipulations, sounds new."
Although the voice – typically treated as the focal point of any arrangement in which it is included – was not an obvious choice for M-base's complex textures or harmonically elaborated melodies, Wilson wove herself into the fabric of these settings with wordless improv and lyrics. She can be heard on Coleman's debut as a leader Motherland Pulse (1985), then as member of his Five Elements on On the Edge of Tomorrow (1986), World Expansion (1986), Sine Die (1987) and on M-Base Collective's sole recording as a large ensemble Anatomy of a Groove (1992).
At the same time, Wilson toured with avant-garde trio New Air
featuring alto saxophonist Henry Threadgill
and recorded Air Show No. 1
(1987) in Italy. A decade her senior and an AACM member, Threadgill has been lauded as a composer for his ability to transcend stylistic boundaries, a trait he and Wilson share.
. She released her first recording as a leader Point of View in 1986. Like the majority of her JMT albums that followed, originals by Wilson in keeping with M-Base dominated these sessions; she would also record material by and co-written with Coleman, Jean-Paul Bourelly
, and James Weidman as well as a few standards. Her throaty contralto
gradually emerges over the course of these recordings, making its way to the foreground. She developed a remarkable ability to stretch and bend pitches, elongate syllables, manipulate tone and timbre from dusky to hollow.
While these recordings established her as a serious musician , Wilson received her first broad critical acclaim for the album of standards recorded in the middle of this period, Blue Skies
(1988). Her signing with Blue Note
records in 1993 marked a crucial turning point in her career and major breakthrough to audiences beyond jazz with albums selling in the hundreds of thousands of copies.
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”.
Not only did Wilson effectively reconnect vocal jazz with its blues roots, she was arguably the first to convincingly fashion post-British Invasion pop into jazz, trailblazing a path that many have since followed. Furthermore, producer Craig Street
drew from pop production techniques to create a rich ambient environment around her voice, magnifying it and giving sonic depth to Brandon Ross' sparse but incredibly vivid arrangements, which used steel guitar, violin, accordion, and percussion.
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
.
The late Miles Davis
was one of Wilson's greatest influences. In 1989 Wilson performed as the opening act for Davis at the JVC Jazz Festival in Chicago. In 1999 she produced Traveling Miles
as a tribute to Davis. The album developed from a series of jazz concerts that she performed at Lincoln Center in November 1997 in Davis' honor, and includes three selections based on Davis' own compositions, from which Wilson adapted the original themes.
She has a son, Jeris, born in the late 1980s. Her song "Out Loud (Jeris' Blues)" is from the album She Who Weeps. For many years she and her son lived in New York City's Sugar Hill
, in an apartment that once belonged to Count Basie
, Lena Horne
and the boxer Joe Louis
.
In 2000, Wilson married actor Isaach de Bankolé
, who directed her in the concert film Traveling Miles: Cassandra Wilson (2000).
Wilson and her mother are members of Alpha Kappa Alpha
sorority.
With New Air
With Greg Osby
With Robin Eubanks
With M-Base
Collective
With Rod Williams
With Dave Holland
With Courtney Pine
With The Roots
With Javon Jackson
With David Sánchez
With Steve Turre
With Kurt Elling
With Wynton Marsalis
With Luther Vandross
With Angélique Kidjo
With Bill Frisell
& Elvis Costello
With Regina Carter
With Don Byron
With Terence Blanchard
With Olu Dara
With David Murray
Black Saint Quartet
With Charlie Haden
Quartet West
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
musician, vocalist, songwriter, and producer from Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson is the capital and the most populous city of the US state of Mississippi. It is one of two county seats of Hinds County ,. The population of the city declined from 184,256 at the 2000 census to 173,514 at the 2010 census...
. Described by critic Gary Giddins
Gary Giddins
Gary Giddins is an American jazz critic, author, and director, best known for his longtime work with The Village Voice. Born in Brooklyn, and raised on Long Island, Giddins graduated from Grinnell College, Iowa, in 1970...
as "a singer blessed with an unmistakable timbre
Timbre
In music, timbre is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices and musical instruments, such as string instruments, wind instruments, and percussion instruments. The physical characteristics of sound that determine the...
and attack [who has] expanded the playing field" by incorporating country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
, blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
and folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
into her work, Wilson has won two Grammy Awards.
Early life and career
Cassandra Wilson is the third and youngest child of Herman Fowlkes, Jr.Herman Fowlkes, Jr.
Herman Fowlkes, Jr. was an American jazz musician and educator from Chicago, Illinois.-Biography:Herman Fowlkes, Jr. was the first of two children born to Herman Fowlkes, Sr. and Marie Payne. As a youngster growing up in Chicago Heights, Illinois, he received classical musical training on the violin...
, a guitarist, bassist and music teacher; and Mary McDaniel, an elementary school teacher who eventually earned her PhD in education. Between her mother’s love for Motown and her father’s dedication to jazz, Wilson’s parents sparked her early interest in music.
Wilson’s earliest formal musical education consisted of classical lessons; she studied piano from the age of six to thirteen and played clarinet in the middle school concert and marching band
Marching band
Marching band is a physical activity in which a group of instrumental musicians generally perform outdoors and incorporate some type of marching with their musical performance. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments...
s. When she tired of this training, she asked her father to teach her the guitar. Instead, he gave her a lesson in self-reliance, suggesting she study Mel Bay method books. Wilson explored guitar on her own, developing what she has described as an “intuitive” approach. During this time she began writing her own songs, adopting a folk style
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
. She also appeared in the musical theater productions, including The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz (adaptations)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a 1900 novel by L. Frank Baum, which has been adapted into several different works, the most famous being the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, starring Judy Garland...
as Dorothy, crossing racial lines in a recently desegregated school system.
For college, Wilson attended Millsaps College
Millsaps College
Millsaps College is a private liberal arts college located in Jackson, Mississippi. Founded in 1890, the college is recognized as one of the country's best private colleges dedicated to undergraduate teaching and educating the whole individual. Affiliated with the United Methodist Church, Millsaps...
and Jackson State University
Jackson State University
Jackson State University is a historically black university founded in 1877 in Natchez, MS by the American Baptist Home Mission Society of New York. The Society moved the school to Jackson in 1882, renaming it Jackson College, and developed its present campus in 1902. It became a state supported...
. She graduated with a degree in mass communications. Outside of the classroom, she spent her nights working with R&B, funk, and pop cover band
Cover band
A cover band , is a band that plays mostly or exclusively cover songs. New or unknown bands often find the cover band format marketable for smaller gigs, and these bands may be known as a wedding band, party band and function band. A band whose covers consist mainly of songs that were chart hits is...
s, also singing in local coffeehouses. The Black Arts Music Society, founded by John Reese and Alvin Fielder
Alvin Fielder
Alvin Fielder is an American jazz drummer. He is a founding member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, Black Arts Music Society, Jackson, Mississippi, Improvisational Arts Trio/Quartet/Quintet and is a founding faculty member of the Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong Summer Jazz...
, provided her with her first opportunities to perform bebop
Bebop
Bebop differed drastically from the straightforward compositions of the swing era, and was instead characterized by fast tempos, asymmetrical phrasing, intricate melodies, and rhythm sections that expanded on their role as tempo-keepers...
.
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
Alvin Batiste
Alvin Batiste was an avant garde jazz clarinetist born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He taught at his own jazz institute at Southern University in Baton Rouge...
, and Ellis Marsalis
Ellis Marsalis, Jr.
Ellis Marsalis is an American musician. He can usually be seen performing on Fridays at Snug Harbor jazz bistro in New Orleans.- Life and career :...
, Wilson found encouragement to seriously pursue jazz performance and moved to New York City the following year.
Musical association with M-Base
There her focus turned towards improvisation. Heavily influenced by singers Abbey LincolnAbbey Lincoln
Anna Marie Wooldridge , better known by her stage name Abbey Lincoln, was a jazz vocalist, songwriter, and actress. Lincoln was unusual in that she wrote and performed her own compositions, expanding the expectations of jazz audiences.-Biography:Born in Chicago, Illinois, she was one of many...
and Betty Carter
Betty Carter
Betty Carter was an American jazz singer renowned for her improvisational technique and idiosyncratic vocal style...
, she fine-tuned her vocal phrasing and scat
Scat singing
In vocal jazz, scat singing is vocal improvisation with wordless vocables, nonsense syllables or without words at all. Scat singing gives singers the ability to sing improvised melodies and rhythms, to create the equivalent of an instrumental solo using their voice.- Structure and syllable choice...
while studying ear training
Ear training
Ear training or aural skills is a skill by which musicians learn to identify, solely by hearing, pitches, intervals, melody, chords, rhythms, and other basic elements of music. The application of this skill is analogous to taking dictation in written/spoken language. Ear training may be...
with trombonist Grachan Moncur, III. Frequenting jam sessions under the tutelage of pianist Sadik Hakim
Sadik Hakim
Sadik Hakim was an American jazz pianist and composer....
, a Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
alumnus, she met alto saxophonist Steve Coleman
Steve Coleman
Steve Coleman, born , is an African American saxophone player, spontaneous composer, composer and band leader. His music and concepts have been a heavy influence on contemporary jazz.-Chicago:...
, 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
M-Base
The term "M-Base" is used in several ways. In the 1980s, a loose collective of young African-American musicians including Steve Coleman, Graham Haynes, Cassandra Wilson, Geri Allen, Robin Eubanks, and Greg Osby emerged in Brooklyn with a new sound and specific ideas about creative expression...
collective in which Coleman was the leading figure, a stylistic outgrowth of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians
Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians
The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians is a non-profit organization, founded in Chicago, Illinois, United States, by pianist/composer Muhal Richard Abrams, pianist Jodie Christian, drummer Steve McCall, and composer Phil Cohran....
(AACM) and Black Artists Group
Black Artists Group
The Black Artists Group was a multidisciplinary arts collective that existed in St. Louis, Missouri from 1968 to 1972.Members included saxophonists Julius Hemphill, Oliver Lake, J. D...
(BAG) that re-imagined the grooves of funk and soul within the context of traditional and avant-garde jazz
Avant-garde jazz
Avant-garde jazz is a style of music and improvisation that combines avant-garde art music and composition with jazz. Avant-jazz often sounds very similar to free jazz, but differs in that, despite its distinct departure from traditional harmony, it has a predetermined structure over which ...
. Peter Watrous in an article for the New York Times states: "...the M-Base group in Brooklyn, working with both jazz and pop forms, makes music that at first sounds like funk from the 1970s. Like the music played by Mr. Marsalis (and his brother Wynton) the music made by M-Base - Steve Coleman, with Greg Osby, Cassandra Wilson and Geri Allen – is, at its best, filled with subtle ideas working behind the mask of popular music. In Mr. Coleman's group a singer is supported by an electric bass, guitar, drums and electric keyboards, a shiny musical mix that has familiar rock and funk references; yet, because of all its rhythmic and metric manipulations, sounds new."
Although the voice – typically treated as the focal point of any arrangement in which it is included – was not an obvious choice for M-base's complex textures or harmonically elaborated melodies, Wilson wove herself into the fabric of these settings with wordless improv and lyrics. She can be heard on Coleman's debut as a leader Motherland Pulse (1985), then as member of his Five Elements on On the Edge of Tomorrow (1986), World Expansion (1986), Sine Die (1987) and on M-Base Collective's sole recording as a large ensemble Anatomy of a Groove (1992).
At the same time, Wilson toured with avant-garde trio New Air
Air (jazz group)
Air was a free jazz trio founded in 1971 by saxophone player Henry Threadgill, double bassist Fred Hopkins and drummer Steve McCall. They combined radical free improvisation with a strong sense of tune and equal emphasis on each instrument in the group....
featuring alto saxophonist Henry Threadgill
Henry Threadgill
Henry Threadgill is an American composer, saxophonist and flautist. Threadgill came to prominence in the 1970s leading ensembles with unusual instrumentation and often incorporating a range of non-jazz genres....
and recorded Air Show No. 1
Air Show No. 1
Air Show No. 1 is an album recorded for the Italian Black Saint label by the improvisational collective New Air featuring Henry Threadgill, Fred Hopkins and Pheeroan akLaff with Cassandra Wilson providing vocals on three selections.-Reception:...
(1987) in Italy. A decade her senior and an AACM member, Threadgill has been lauded as a composer for his ability to transcend stylistic boundaries, a trait he and Wilson share.
Solo career
Like fellow M-Base artists, Wilson signed to the Munich-based, independent label JMTJMT Records
JMT Records was a record label that specialised in contemporary jazz. It was run by Stefan Winter.JMT recorded artists included Steve Coleman, Cassandra Wilson, Greg Osby, and Django Bates. The entire JMT catalogue is being re-released by Winter & Winter, Stefan Winter's new label....
. She released her first recording as a leader Point of View in 1986. Like the majority of her JMT albums that followed, originals by Wilson in keeping with M-Base dominated these sessions; she would also record material by and co-written with Coleman, Jean-Paul Bourelly
Jean-Paul Bourelly
Jean-Paul Bourelly is an American jazz fusion and blues rock guitarist.Bourelly was born in Chicago, Illinois, United States, his mother American and his father an immigrant from Haiti. Bourelly sang at the Lyric Opera when he was ten years old and learned piano and drums, picking up guitar by age...
, and James Weidman as well as a few standards. Her throaty contralto
Contralto
Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...
gradually emerges over the course of these recordings, making its way to the foreground. She developed a remarkable ability to stretch and bend pitches, elongate syllables, manipulate tone and timbre from dusky to hollow.
While these recordings established her as a serious musician , Wilson received her first broad critical acclaim for the album of standards recorded in the middle of this period, Blue Skies
Blue Skies (Cassandra Wilson album)
Blue Skies is the third studio album by American jazz singer Cassandra Wilson. It was released on the JMT label in 1988 and features ten jazz standards. The jazz trio accompanying WIlson is Mulgrew Miller on piano, Terri Lyne Carrington on drums, and Lonnie Plaxico on bass...
(1988). Her signing with Blue Note
Blue note
In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres. Country blues, in particular, features wide variations from the...
records in 1993 marked a crucial turning point in her career and major breakthrough to audiences beyond jazz with albums selling in the hundreds of thousands of copies.
Beginning with Blue Light 'Til Dawn
Blue Light 'til Dawn
Blue Light 'til Dawn is a studio album by American jazz singer Cassandra Wilson. Her first album on the Blue Note label, it was released in 1993. It contains Wilson's interpretations of songs by various blues and rock artists, as well as three original compositions.-Reception:Rolling Stone reviewer...
(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
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
's “Black Crow”, The Monkees
The Monkees
The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...
' “Last Train to Clarksville
Last Train to Clarksville
"Last Train to Clarksville" was the debut single by The Monkees, released August 16, 1966, and later included on the group's 1966 self-titled album, that was released on October 10, 1966. The song was recorded at RCA Victor Studio B in Hollywood, on July 25, 1966...
”, and Hank Williams' “I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry”.
Not only did Wilson effectively reconnect vocal jazz with its blues roots, she was arguably the first to convincingly fashion post-British Invasion pop into jazz, trailblazing a path that many have since followed. Furthermore, producer Craig Street
Craig Street
Craig Street, born in Oakland, California, is a noted record producer.Craig moved with his family to Los Angeles at the age of 11, but returned to the Bay Area for his high school years. He began playing guitar at age 14, playing in a number of Berkeley bands...
drew from pop production techniques to create a rich ambient environment around her voice, magnifying it and giving sonic depth to Brandon Ross' sparse but incredibly vivid arrangements, which used steel guitar, violin, accordion, and percussion.
Wilson's 1996 album New Moon Daughter
New Moon Daughter
New Moon Daughter is a studio album by American jazz singer Cassandra Wilson, released in 1995 on Blue Note. It reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top Jazz Albums chart in 1996.-Reception:...
won the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Performance. In 1997, she recorded and toured as a featured vocalist with Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Learson Marsalis is a trumpeter, composer, bandleader, music educator, and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Marsalis has promoted the appreciation of classical and jazz music often to young audiences...
' Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
winning composition, Blood on the Fields
Blood on the Fields
Blood on the Fields is a three-and-a-half-hour jazz oratorio, by Wynton Marsalis. It was commissioned by Lincoln Center and concerns a couple moving from slavery to freedom....
.
The late Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
was one of Wilson's greatest influences. In 1989 Wilson performed as the opening act for Davis at the JVC Jazz Festival in Chicago. In 1999 she produced Traveling Miles
Traveling Miles
Traveling Miles is the thirteenth overall album by American jazz vocalist Cassandra Wilson. Released on the Blue Note label in 1999, it is a tribute to Miles Davis, taking many of its cues from Davis' catalog of recordings with Columbia Records....
as a tribute to Davis. The album developed from a series of jazz concerts that she performed at Lincoln Center in November 1997 in Davis' honor, and includes three selections based on Davis' own compositions, from which Wilson adapted the original themes.
Personal life
Wilson was married to Anthony Wilson from 1981 to 1983.She has a son, Jeris, born in the late 1980s. Her song "Out Loud (Jeris' Blues)" is from the album She Who Weeps. For many years she and her son lived in New York City's Sugar Hill
Sugar Hill
Sugar Hill commonly refers to Sugar Hill, Manhattan, a section of Harlem, New York City, New York, US. The term may also refer to:Places:* Sugar Hill in Modoc National Forest, California* Sugar Hill, Georgia* Sugar Hill, New Hampshire...
, in an apartment that once belonged to Count Basie
Count Basie
William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...
, Lena Horne
Lena Horne
Lena Mary Calhoun Horne was an American singer, actress, civil rights activist and dancer.Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood, where she had small parts in numerous movies, and more substantial parts in the...
and the boxer Joe Louis
Joe Louis
Joseph Louis Barrow , better known as Joe Louis, was the world heavyweight boxing champion from 1937 to 1949. He is considered to be one of the greatest heavyweights of all time...
.
In 2000, Wilson married actor Isaach de Bankolé
Isaach De Bankolé
Isaach or Isaac de Bankolé is an Ivorian actor.-Work:He has appeared in over 30 films, including Jim Jarmusch's Night on Earth, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, and Coffee and Cigarettes...
, who directed her in the concert film Traveling Miles: Cassandra Wilson (2000).
Wilson and her mother are members of Alpha Kappa Alpha
Alpha Kappa Alpha
Alpha Kappa Alpha is the first Greek-lettered sorority established and incorporated by African American college women. The sorority was founded on January 15, 1908, at Howard University in Washington, D.C., by a group of nine students, led by Ethel Hedgeman Lyle...
sorority.
Honors
- Received honorary doctorate in the Arts from Millsaps CollegeMillsaps CollegeMillsaps College is a private liberal arts college located in Jackson, Mississippi. Founded in 1890, the college is recognized as one of the country's best private colleges dedicated to undergraduate teaching and educating the whole individual. Affiliated with the United Methodist Church, Millsaps...
, 2003 - Named “America’s Best Singer” by Time Magazine in 2001
- Female Jazz Vocalist of the Year, Down BeatDown BeatDown Beat is an American magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond" to indicate its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois...
magazine, 1994–1996. Wilson was named best jazz singer. - Grammy AwardGrammy AwardA Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for Best Jazz Vocal Performance for New Moon Daughter, 1996 - Grammy AwardGrammy AwardA Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for Best Jazz Vocal Album for Loverly, 2009 - Added to the Mississippi Blues TrailMississippi Blues TrailThe Mississippi Blues Trail, created by the Mississippi Blues Commission, is a project to place interpretive markers at the most notable historical sites related to the growth of the blues throughout the state of Mississippi. The trail extends from the border of Louisiana in southern Mississippi...
on January 7, 2010 - Received Miles Davis prize from the Montreal International Jazz Festival, 1999
As leader
- Point of View (1986, JMTJMT RecordsJMT Records was a record label that specialised in contemporary jazz. It was run by Stefan Winter.JMT recorded artists included Steve Coleman, Cassandra Wilson, Greg Osby, and Django Bates. The entire JMT catalogue is being re-released by Winter & Winter, Stefan Winter's new label....
) - Days AweighDays AweighDays Aweigh is the second studio album by American jazz singer Cassandra Wilson. It was released on the Winter & Winter label in 1987.-Track listing:# "Electromagnolia" – 4:45...
(1987, JMT) - Blue SkiesBlue Skies (Cassandra Wilson album)Blue Skies is the third studio album by American jazz singer Cassandra Wilson. It was released on the JMT label in 1988 and features ten jazz standards. The jazz trio accompanying WIlson is Mulgrew Miller on piano, Terri Lyne Carrington on drums, and Lonnie Plaxico on bass...
(1988, JMT) - JumpworldJumpworldJumpworld is the fourth studio album by American jazz singer Cassandra Wilson. It was released in 1990.-Track listing:# "Woman on the Edge" – 5:02# "Domination Switch" – 6:20...
(1989, JMT) - She Who WeepsShe Who WeepsShe Who Weeps is the fifth studio album by American jazz singer Cassandra Wilson. It was released June 25, 1991. Writing for Allmusic, Scott Yanow gave the album a star rating of three out of five. He described it as a "transition of sorts" for the artist, and noted some traces of her earlier...
(1990, JMT) - LiveLive (Cassandra Wilson album)Live is a jazz album by American singer Cassandra Wilson, released in 1991.-Track listing:# "Don't Look Back" – 5:55# "Soul Melange" – 11:35...
(1991, JMT) - After the Beginning Again (1992, JMT)
- Dance to the Drums AgainDance to the Drums AgainDance to the Drums Again is a studio album by American jazz singer Cassandra Wilson, released in 1992. In a review for Allmusic, Scott Yanow noted that with this album, Wilson was at the "crossroads of her career".-Track listing:...
(1992, DIWDIW RecordsDIW Records is a Japanese record label. It is a subsidiary label of Disc Union and specializes in jazz and avant garde music. Kazunori Sugiyama was an executive producer for the label before starting Tzadik Records with John Zorn.-Discography:...
/ColumbiaColumbia RecordsColumbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
) - Blue Light 'Til DawnBlue Light 'til DawnBlue Light 'til Dawn is a studio album by American jazz singer Cassandra Wilson. Her first album on the Blue Note label, it was released in 1993. It contains Wilson's interpretations of songs by various blues and rock artists, as well as three original compositions.-Reception:Rolling Stone reviewer...
(1993, Blue NoteBlue Note RecordsBlue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...
) - New Moon DaughterNew Moon DaughterNew Moon Daughter is a studio album by American jazz singer Cassandra Wilson, released in 1995 on Blue Note. It reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top Jazz Albums chart in 1996.-Reception:...
(1995, Blue Note) - Songbook (1995, JMT compilation)
- Rendezvous (with Jacky TerrassonJacky TerrassonJacques-Laurent Terrasson is a jazz pianist better known as Jacky Terrasson.He was born in Germany, but his mother was American and his father French. He studied at the Berklee College of Music before playing in Chicago and New York City clubs. He gained increased attention on winning the 1993...
) (1998, Blue Note) - Traveling MilesTraveling MilesTraveling Miles is the thirteenth overall album by American jazz vocalist Cassandra Wilson. Released on the Blue Note label in 1999, it is a tribute to Miles Davis, taking many of its cues from Davis' catalog of recordings with Columbia Records....
(1999, Blue Note) - Belly of the SunBelly of the SunBelly of the Sun is an album by American jazz singer Cassandra Wilson. It was released on the Blue Note label in 2002.The title of the CD comes from a line in "Only a Dream in Rio" that Wilson had translated to Yoruba ".....
(2002, Blue Note) - Sings StandardsSings StandardsSings Standards is a compilation album by American jazz singer Cassandra Wilson, released in 2002.-Track listing:# "Polka Dots and Moonbeams" — 5:45# "I Wished on the Moon" — 3:33...
(2002, VerveVerve RecordsVerve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve...
, compilation) - GlamouredGlamouredGlamoured is an album by American jazz singer Cassandra Wilson. It was released on the Blue Note label in 2003.-Track listing:# "Fragile" — 4:37# "Sleight of Time" — 4:12# "I Want More" — 4:21...
(2003, Blue Note) - Love Phases Dimensions: From the JMT Years (2004, edel, compilation)
- ThunderbirdThunderbird (album)Thunderbird is an album by American jazz singer Cassandra Wilson. It was released on the Blue Note label in 2006.-Track listing:# "Go to Mexico" – 4:14# "Closer to You" – 5:49# "Easy Rider" – 7:03# "It Would Be So Easy"...
(2006, Blue Note) - LoverlyLoverlyLoverly is an album by American jazz singer Cassandra Wilson, released in 2008.-Track listing:# "Lover, Come Back to Me" – 4:16# "A Day in the Life of a Fool" – 4:58...
(2008, Blue Note) - Closer to You: The Pop SideCloser to You: The Pop SideCloser to You: The Pop Side is a compilation album by American jazz singer Cassandra Wilson, released in 2009.- Track listing :# "Love Is Blindness" — 4:54...
(2009, Blue Note compilation) - Silver PonySilver PonySilver Pony is an album by American jazz singer Cassandra Wilson, released in November 2010 on Blue Note Records. A mixture of live and studio-recorded tracks, it was produced by Wilson and John Fischbach. It includes jazz, blues and pop standards, as well as original music by Wilson and her band...
(2010, Blue Note)
As sideman (/guest vocalist, gen. for one or two tracks)
With Steve Coleman- Motherland Pulse (1985, JMTJMT RecordsJMT Records was a record label that specialised in contemporary jazz. It was run by Stefan Winter.JMT recorded artists included Steve Coleman, Cassandra Wilson, Greg Osby, and Django Bates. The entire JMT catalogue is being re-released by Winter & Winter, Stefan Winter's new label....
) - On the Edge of Tomorrow (1986, JMT)
- World Expansion (by the M-Base Neophyte) (1987, JMT)
- Sine Die (1988, PangaeaPangea RecordingsPangea Recordings is an electronic music record label that has featured releases from artists such as Joshua Collins, Chris Lake, Andy Moor, Mick Wilson, Nine Below Zero, and Subsky. They currently have two sublabels, 1 Shot Recordings and Pangea UK....
) - Rhythm People (1990, NovusNovus RecordsNovus Records Novus Records Novus Records (later Arista Novus and RCA Novus was a United States jazz and contemporary jazz record label. It was an Arista Records imprint focused on then-contemporary jazz artists...
/RCARCARCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
) - Black Science (1991, Novus/RCA)
- Drop Kick (1992, Novus/RCA)
- The Ascension to Light (1999, BMGBMGBertelsmann Music Group, , was a division of Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Japan's Sony Corporation of America on October 1, 2008. It was established in 1987 to combine the music label activities of Bertelsmann...
/RCA)
With New Air
Air (jazz group)
Air was a free jazz trio founded in 1971 by saxophone player Henry Threadgill, double bassist Fred Hopkins and drummer Steve McCall. They combined radical free improvisation with a strong sense of tune and equal emphasis on each instrument in the group....
- Air Show No. 1Air Show No. 1Air Show No. 1 is an album recorded for the Italian Black Saint label by the improvisational collective New Air featuring Henry Threadgill, Fred Hopkins and Pheeroan akLaff with Cassandra Wilson providing vocals on three selections.-Reception:...
(1986, Black Saint/Soul NoteBlack Saint/Soul NoteBlack Saint and Soul Note are two affiliated Italian jazz independent record labels. Since their conception in the 1970s, they have released albums from a variety of influential jazz musicians, particularly in the genre of free jazz.-History:...
)
With Greg Osby
Greg Osby
Greg Osby is an American jazz saxophonist who plays mainly in the free jazz, free funk and M-Base idioms.-Biography:Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Osby studied at Howard University, where he majored in Jazz Studies, and then at the Berklee College of Music, with Andy McGhee...
- Season of Renewal (1989, JMT)
With Robin Eubanks
Robin Eubanks
Robin Eubanks is an American jazz and jazz fusion slide trombonist, the brother of guitarist Kevin Eubanks and trumpeter Duane Eubanks.-Biography:...
- Karma (1991, JMT/Polydor)
With M-Base
M-Base
The term "M-Base" is used in several ways. In the 1980s, a loose collective of young African-American musicians including Steve Coleman, Graham Haynes, Cassandra Wilson, Geri Allen, Robin Eubanks, and Greg Osby emerged in Brooklyn with a new sound and specific ideas about creative expression...
Collective
- Anatomy of a Groove (1992, Rebel-X/DIWDIW RecordsDIW Records is a Japanese record label. It is a subsidiary label of Disc Union and specializes in jazz and avant garde music. Kazunori Sugiyama was an executive producer for the label before starting Tzadik Records with John Zorn.-Discography:...
/ColumbiaColumbia RecordsColumbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
)
With Rod Williams
- Destiny Express (1993, Muse RecordsMuse RecordsMuse Records was an American record label which released jazz and blues music.Muse was founded in the early 1970s by Joe Fields, who had previously worked as an executive for Prestige Records in the 1960s...
)
With Dave Holland
Dave Holland
Dave Holland is an English jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has lived in the United States for 40 years....
- Dream of the EldersDream of the EldersDream Of The Elders is the sole release by this line-up of the Dave Holland Quartet. Like Holland's previous two ECM releases, Triplicate and Extensions, this album was recorded following the dissolving of his first working quintet but before the formation of his current working...
(1995, ECM)
With Courtney Pine
Courtney Pine
Courtney Pine CBE is an English jazz musician. At school he studied the clarinet, although he is known primarily for his saxophone playing. Pine is a multi-instrumentalist, also playing the flute, clarinet, bass Clarinet and keyboards...
- Modern Day Jazz Stories (1995, AntillesAntilles RecordsAntilles Records was an American record label that was a subsidiary of Island Records.Its jazz catalog is now managed by Verve Records.-Discography:*1001 Joanne Brackeen - Special Identity 1981*1002 Biréli Lagrène- Routes To Django 1980...
)
With The Roots
The Roots
The Roots is an American hip hop/neo soul band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are famed for beginning with a jazzy, eclectic approach to hip hop which still includes live instrumentals...
- Do You Want More?!!!??!Do You Want More?!!!??!Do You Want More?!!!??! is the second studio album by American hip hop band The Roots, released January 17, 1995 on DGC Records. The band's major label-debut, it was released two years after their independent debut album, Organix . Do You Want More?!!!??! has been considered by critics as a classic...
(1995, DGCDGC RecordsDGC Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and currently operates as an auxiliary label of Interscope Records.-Company history:...
/GeffenGeffen RecordsGeffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...
) - Illadelph HalflifeIlladelph HalflifeThe New York Times writer Neil Strauss called the album "one of the year's best rap offerings" and wrote that "The Roots move indiscriminately from politically conscious lyrics to silly rhymes "...
(1996, DGC/Geffen)
With Javon Jackson
Javon Jackson
Javon Jackson is an American jazz tenor saxophonist. He played in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers from 1987 until Blakey's death in 1990, and has also played with the Harper Brothers, Benny Green, Freddie Hubbard and Elvin Jones...
- A Look Within (1996, Blue Note)
With David Sánchez
David Sánchez (musician)
David Sanchez is a well known, 2005 Grammy winning jazz tenor saxophonist from Guaynabo, Puerto Rico born in September 1968.-Early life:Sanchez took up the conga when he was eight and started playing tenor saxophone at age 12. The earliest influences were Afro-Caribbean and danza but also European...
- Street Scenes (1996, Columbia)
With Steve Turre
Steve Turre
Steve Turre is a trombonist, recording artist, arranger, and educator. In 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002 and 2006 he won the Down Beat Reader's Poll for best trombonist....
- Steve Turre (1997, VerveVerve RecordsVerve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve...
)
With Kurt Elling
Kurt Elling
Kurt Elling is an American jazz vocalist, composer, lyricist and vocalese performer. Born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in Rockford, Elling first became interested in music through his father, who was Kapellmeister at a Lutheran church...
- The MessengerThe Messenger (Kurt Elling album)The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album four stars, and described it as "one of the most interesting jazz vocal sets to be released in 1997...Elling covers a wide range of music, continually taking chances and coming up with fresh approaches...This rewarding and continually intriguing...
(1997, Blue Note)
With Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Learson Marsalis is a trumpeter, composer, bandleader, music educator, and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Marsalis has promoted the appreciation of classical and jazz music often to young audiences...
- Blood on the FieldsBlood on the FieldsBlood on the Fields is a three-and-a-half-hour jazz oratorio, by Wynton Marsalis. It was commissioned by Lincoln Center and concerns a couple moving from slavery to freedom....
(1997, Columbia) - ReeltimeReeltime (album)Reeltime is an album by Wynton Marsalis, released in 1999 through Sony Music Distribution. The album peaked at number six on Billboard Top Jazz Albums chart....
(1999, SonySony, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
)
With Luther Vandross
Luther Vandross
Luther Ronzoni Vandross was an American singer-songwriter and record producer. During his career, Vandross sold over twenty-five million albums and won eight Grammy Awards including Best Male R&B Vocal Performance four times...
- I Know (1998, EMIEMIThe EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
)
With Angélique Kidjo
Angélique Kidjo
Angélique Kpasseloko Hinto Hounsinou Kandjo Manta Zogbin Kidjo, commonly known as Angélique Kidjo is a Grammy Award–winning Beninoise singer-songwriter and activist, noted for her diverse musical influences and creative music videos. Time Magazine has called her "Africa's premier diva". The BBC has...
- Oremi (1998, IslandIsland RecordsIsland Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
)
With Bill Frisell
Bill Frisell
William Richard "Bill" Frisell is an American guitarist and composer.One of the leading guitarists in jazz since the late 1980s, Frisell's eclectic music touches on progressive folk, classical music, country music, noise and more...
& Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
- The Sweetest PunchThe Sweetest PunchThe Sweetest Punch is a 1999 album by Elvis Costello and Bill Frisell, released as a companion album to 1998's Painted from Memory. Many of the earlier album's songs are featured with new arrangements by Frisell, and mostly in instrumental versions....
(1999, DeccaDecca RecordsDecca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
)
With Regina Carter
Regina Carter
Regina Carter is an American jazz violinist. She is the cousin of famous jazz saxophonist James Carter.-Early life:...
- Rhythms of the Heart (1999, Verve)
With Don Byron
Don Byron
Don Byron is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist. He primarily plays clarinet, but has also used bass clarinet and saxophones....
- A Fine Line: Arias & Lieder (2000, Blue Note)
With Terence Blanchard
Terence Blanchard
Terence Oliver Blanchard is an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, arranger, and film score composer. Since he emerged on the scene in 1980 with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra and then shortly thereafter with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Blanchard has been a leading artist in jazz...
- Let's Get LostLet's Get Lost (album)Let's Get Lost is a 2001 jazz album by Grammy winning trumpeter Terence Blanchard, with four very well known female vocalists to help him, Diana Krall, Jane Monheit, Dianne Reeves, and Cassandra Wilson.-Background:...
(2001, SonySony, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
)
With Olu Dara
Olu Dara
Olu Dara Jones is an American cornetist, guitarist and singer.-History:...
- Neighborhoods (2001, Atlantic)
With David Murray
David Murray
David Murray may refer to:In politics and society*David Murray, 1st Viscount of Stormont *David Murray, 4th Viscount of Stormont *Sir David Murray, 2nd Baronet *David Murray, 5th Viscount of Stormont...
Black Saint Quartet
- Sacred Ground (2007, Justin Time)
With Charlie Haden
Charlie Haden
Charles Edward Haden is an American jazz musician. He is a double bassist, probably best known for his long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman...
Quartet West
- Sophisticated Ladies (2010, EmArcy/Verve)
On special productions
- No Prima Donna, The Songs of Van MorrisonVan MorrisonVan Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
(1994, Polydor): "Crazy Love" - Bob BeldenBob BeldenJames Robert Belden is an American saxophonist, arranger, composer, bandleader and producer. He is noted for his Grammy Award winning jazz orchestral recording titled The Black Dahlia. He is also a past head of A & R for Blue Note Records.Belden was born in Evanston, Illinois, and raised in...
: When Doves Cry: The Music of PrincePrincePrince is a general term for a ruler, monarch or member of a monarch's or former monarch's family, and is a hereditary title in the nobility of some European states. The feminine equivalent is a princess...
(1994, Metro Blue): "When Doves CryWhen Doves CryA hit cover version by R&B singer Ginuwine was produced by Timbaland in 1996 for Ginuwine's The Bachelor album, Ginuwine's cover uses actual dove sound effects as texture for its jungle music-inspired instrumental track.-Charts:-Other cover versions:...
" - Spirit of '73: Rock for Choice (1995, 550 Music/EpicEpic RecordsEpic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...
): "Killing Me Softly with His SongKilling Me Softly with His Song"Killing Me Softly with His Song" is a 1971 song composed by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel. It has been covered by numerous artists, most notably by Roberta Flack whose version topped the U.S...
" - Jazz to the World (Christmas) (1995, Blue Note): "The Little Drummer Boy"
- Bob Belden Presents Strawberry Fields (1996, Blue Note): "Come TogetherCome Together"Come Together" is a song by The Beatles written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The song is the opening track on The Beatles' September 1969 album Abbey Road....
", "Strawberry Fields ForeverStrawberry Fields Forever"Strawberry Fields Forever" is a song by The Beatles, written by John Lennon and attributed to the Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership. It was inspired by Lennon's memories of playing in the garden of a Salvation Army house named "Strawberry Field" near his childhood home."Strawberry Fields...
" - Bob Belden's Shades of Blue (1996, Blue Note): "Joshua Fit de Battle ob JerichoJoshua Fit the Battle of Jericho"Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho" is a well-known negro spiritual.The song is believed to have been composed by slaves in the first half of the nineteenth century. Some references suggest that it was copyrighted by Jay Roberts in 1865...
" - Lounge-A-Palooza (1997, HollywoodHollywood RecordsHollywood Records is an American record label owned by Disney Music Group, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company.-History:Hollywood Records was founded in 1989 by then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner with the idea of expanding the music operations of the company and to develop and promote...
): "The Good Life" - A Tribute to Joni MitchellJoni MitchellJoni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
(2007, NonesuchNonesuch RecordsNonesuch Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Bros. Records.-Company history:Nonesuch was founded in 1964 by Jac Holzman to produce "fine records at the same price as a trade paperback", which would be half the price of a normal LP...
): "For the Roses"
Soundtracks
- 1994 Jimmy HollywoodJimmy HollywoodJimmy Hollywood is an American comedy film written and directed by Barry Levinson and starring Joe Pesci and Christian Slater.- Plot :Jimmy Alto is a failing actor living in Los Angeles. After increasing frustration with crime in the city Jimmy, along with his 'spaced-out' best friend William ,...
: "Let the Good Times Roll" - 1994 JuniorJunior (film)Junior is a 1994 American comedy film written by Kevin Wade and Chris Conrad and directed by Ivan Reitman. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as a scientist who undergoes a male pregnancy as part of a scientific experiment.-Plot:...
: "I've Got You Under My SkinI've Got You Under My Skin (song)"I've Got You Under My Skin" is a song written by Cole Porter. It became a signature song for Frank Sinatra and, in 1966, became a top 10 hit for The Four Seasons...
" and "Little Warm Death" - 1995 Miami RhapsodyMiami RhapsodyMiami Rhapsody is a 1995 American romantic comedy film starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Gil Bellows, Antonio Banderas, Mia Farrow, Paul Mazursky, Kevin Pollak, Barbara Garrick, and Carla Gugino. It was written, produced, and directed by David Frankel, with music composed by Mark Isham.-Plot:Gwyn...
: "How Long Has This Been Going On?How Long Has This Been Going On?"How Long Has This Been Going On?" is a song composed by George Gershwin, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin for the musical "Funny Face" in 1928.Replaced by "He Loves and She Loves" in Funny Face, it was eventually introduced in the musical Rosalie by Bobbe Arnst.-Notable recordings:*Audrey Hepburn in...
" - 1997 Love Jones: "You Move Me" (see Love Jones (soundtrack)Love Jones (soundtrack)Love Jones: The Music is the original soundtrack to the 1997 film Love Jones.-Track listing:#"Brother to the Night - Darius' Poem" — Larenz Tate – 3:18#"Hopeless" — Dionne Farris – 3:53...
) - 1997 Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (film): "Days of Wine and Roses"
- 1998 B. MonkeyB. MonkeyB. Monkey is a 1998 film directed by Michael Radford. Originally, Michael Caton-Jones was attached to direct the adaptation of the book by Andrew Davies, but left over creative differences.-Plot:...
: "Tupelo Honey" - 1999 PassionsPassionsPassions is an American television soap opera which aired on NBC from July 5, 1999 to September 7, 2007 and on The 101 Network from September 17, 2007 to August 7, 2008....
(TV series): "Time After TimeTime after Time (Cyndi Lauper song)"Time After Time" is a song by American singer Cyndi Lauper, released as the second single from her album She's So Unusual. It reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart on June 9, 1984, and remained there for two weeks...
" - 1999 Searching for Jimi HendrixJimi HendrixJames Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
(TV documentary): "AngelAngel (Jimi Hendrix song)"Angel" is the name of a song written and recorded by Jimi Hendrix, first released in February 1971 on the posthumous LP The Cry of Love. In April it was released as a single, which failed to chart...
" - 2001 The ScoreThe Score (film)The Score is a 2001 crime thriller directed by Frank Oz and starring Robert De Niro, Edward Norton, Angela Bassett and Marlon Brando.It was the final film performance for Brando and the only time he and De Niro appeared in a film together The Score is a 2001 crime thriller directed by Frank Oz and...
: "Green Dolphin Street" and "You're About to Give In" - 2002 Brown Sugar: "Time After Time"
- 2005 Don't Come KnockingDon't Come KnockingDon't Come Knocking is a 2005 film, a comedy-drama road movie directed by German director Wim Wenders and written by Wenders and actor/playwright Sam Shepard. The two had previously collaborated on the film Paris, Texas...
: "Lost" - 2008 My Blueberry NightsMy Blueberry NightsMy Blueberry Nights is a 2007 romance/drama/road film directed by Wong Kar Wai, his first feature in English. The screenplay by Wong and Lawrence Block is based on a short Chinese-language film written and directed by Wong...
: "Harvest Moon"
Filmography
Cassandra Wilson features as a singer in the following films.- JuniorJunior (film)Junior is a 1994 American comedy film written by Kevin Wade and Chris Conrad and directed by Ivan Reitman. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as a scientist who undergoes a male pregnancy as part of a scientific experiment.-Plot:...
(1994) - The ScoreThe Score (film)The Score is a 2001 crime thriller directed by Frank Oz and starring Robert De Niro, Edward Norton, Angela Bassett and Marlon Brando.It was the final film performance for Brando and the only time he and De Niro appeared in a film together The Score is a 2001 crime thriller directed by Frank Oz and...
(2001)