There isn’t a more unique voice in American music than the one belonging to Cassandra Wilson. Her dusky contralto can move, within a phase from meditative to angry, romantic to jazzily precise, blues-drenched to delicate. No matter the mood that drenches her delivery, Wilson is immediately herself—perhaps the most distinctive and expressive singer of the last two decades.
Wilson’s new record,
Another Country, is another exemplar of these two critical characteristics. From the start and throughout,
Another Country is plainly Cassandra Wilson, yet it also represents a surprising variety and sense of change. Here is that distinctive voice, that one-of-a-kind sound, yet it is up to new and varied tricks.
Talking about the new recording, her first in almost 20 years away from Blue Note Records, Wilson agreed that she become more herself the more different directions she goes in. “Yes! I feel more confident because I’ve placed myself in so many different contexts. That fuels your belief in yourself. It helps you dig deep.”
For example, Wilson taking on an aria? Yes. Yet she still sounds utterly like Cassandra Wilson.
To read all of my interview with Cassandra Wilson, go go to PopMatters, here:
Cassandra Wilson: Still a Jazz Singer As She Roams Far Afield
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