Susan Abayomi
American Grammy Award-winning jazz singer Cassandra Wilson has died at the age of 70, her manager has announced.
Wilson passed away peacefully on Wednesday at her home in Jackson, Mississippi, surrounded by family, close friends and her manager, according to a statement released by Robert Torre, who described her as a “legendary jazz artist.” The cause of death was not disclosed.
A celebrated singer-songwriter and producer, Wilson was widely recognised for her deep, expressive contralto voice and her ability to blend jazz with elements of blues, folk, R&B and other musical traditions throughout her three-decade career.
She won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance in 1997 for her album New Moon Daughter, while her 2009 album Loverly earned the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album.
Wilson also played a major role in Blood on the Fields, a 1997 jazz oratorio by Wynton Marsalis that became the first jazz composition to win the Pulitzer Prize.
Over the years, she collaborated with renowned musicians including saxophonists Steve Coleman and Greg Osby, as well as hip-hop group The Roots.
Tributes have poured in from across the music world, with musician Jon Batiste praising Wilson’s distinctive voice and her influence on generations of artists.
“She had an unmistakable vocal tone, phrasing, and her approach of weaving folkloric, R&B, and diasporic music together with experimental and popular genres had a major impact on me,” Batiste wrote.
AFP
