Cassandra Wilson

Wilson's second Blue Note release was a breakthrough hit with the general public and it cemented her place as modern jazz's most intriquing vocalist. Her aching take on the classic "Skylark" shows her link to masters such as Sarah Vaughan, while more experimental tracks such as "The Last Train to Clarksville" subtlely take on elements of post bop and rock.

On first listen, Cassandra Wilson's latest release, New Moon Daughter, seems like a sequel to
1993's Blue Light 'Til Dawn. The two albums share the same producer (Craig Street), the
same core of musicians, the same basic sound (jazz-ballad singing in an acoustic
country-blues setting) and similarly eclectic source material (Robert Johnson, Van
Morrison and Joni Mitchell last time; Billie Holiday, Hank Williams and the Monkee... More >

Compelled to pretend they're superior to the pop text as well as the pop tune, encouraged to express rather than interpret but forbidden to ignore the words, too many jazz singers have trouble figuring out what to make of their material. And however admirable Wilson's independence of so-called classic pop, most of these songs escape her attentions without a mark on them. Which isn't to mention the "Strange Fruit" that establishes the surpassing weirdness of Billie's original, or the disastrous Monkees cover, designed to prove she has a sense of humor I'm now convinced isn't there. (Grade - B-)