Cassandra Wilson

Blessed with a distinctive, flexible voice and genre-bending taste, Mississippi-born singer Cassandra Wilson was one of the best and most celebrated jazz singers of her generation. Influenced by the innovative styles of Betty Carter, Shirley Horn, and Nina Simone, Wilson emerged from Steve Coleman's M-Base Collective in the late '80s as a highly individualistic performer. Although she was an adept interpreter of the standards and blues-based jazz tradition, she was equally at home reinventing the songs of folk, pop, and country artists like Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Hank Wi...