Meet Cassandra Wilson who “Redefined what Jazz Could Sound Like”

Charlie Braxton
Jun 10
2 min read

Get to Know the Slow-burning Milsaps College and Jackson State Grad in Four Songs

Not a cover artist per se, Wilson is arguably best known for her reinterpretations of more famous songs.

In celebration of Black Music Month this year, we’d like to take a moment to spotlight a selection of artists with Mississippi roots who have significantly enriched the national music landscape. Unquestionably, New Orleans is the birthplace of jazz, but its roots lie deeply in the blues, so it only stands to reason Mississippi would produce prominent musicians in jazz. One of them is vocalist Cassandra Wilson, a singer, songwriter, and guitarist from Jackson, Miss.

The History Wilson’s father, Herman Fowlkes Jr., was a guitarist, bassist, and music teacher, while her mother, Mary McDaniel, was an elementary school teacher with a PhD in education. Between her mother’s love for Motown and her father’s jazz enthusiasm, Wilson was given broad exposure to a wide variety of music, which would serve her well in the future.

Wilson’s formal education began with lessons in classical music. From age 6 to 13, she took piano lessons, and she played clarinet in the middle school marching band. From there, she took interest the guitar. She asked her father to give her lessons, and he gave her a Mel Bay book of guitar instruction and told her to teach herself. So she did and started writing songs. She attended Millsaps College and Jackson State University, where she graduated with a degree in mass communications.

In 1981, Wilson moved to New Orleans and worked as public affairs director for WDSU-TV by day, a gig-singer around the city by night. She was mentored by some of the city’s jazz legends such as Alvin Baptiste and Ellis Marsalis, who encouraged her to seriously pursue jazz. The next year she moved to New York.

The Rise In New York, Wilson paid her dues and saw her art grow to include improvisation and scatting thanks to her new mentors, Abbey Lincoln and Betty Carter. She also fine-tuned her ear-training working with trombonist Grachan Moncur III and did many jam sessions with pianist Sadik Hakim, a Charlie Parker alum. Later, she would meet saxophonist Steve Coleman who encouraged her to move beyond doing jazz standards and incorporate new forms into her music. At Coleman’s suggestion, she joined the M-Base Collective, a loose cluster of maverick musicians dedicated to bringing new sounds and ideas to jazz. Wilson’s vocals are featured on Coleman's debut album, “Motherland Pulse (1985)” and four other albums, including M-Base Collective's sole recording as a large ensemble “Anatomy of a Groove” in 1992.

In 1986, Wilson inked a deal with the German based JMT label and released her debut LP, “Point of View.” She went on to record eight albums for the label before signing a deal with Blue Note Records in 1993. With Blue Note Wilson’s career sky-rocked into the stratosphere with release of a slew of critically acclaimed albums such as “New Moon Daughter,” (1993), ‘Rendezvous,” (1997) and “Belly of the Sun” (2002).

Wilson has won numerous accolades and awards for her work. Additionally, she holds three honorary doctorates from The New School, Millsaps College, and Berklee College of Music, respectively.