Jazz singer Cassandra Wilson shares her mastery with Harvard students
In jazz, it doesn’t matter how well you play the notes: You can’t know where you’re going until you first know where you came from. The jazz tradition demands attention to the masters, especially those willing to hand down their wisdom to the next generation. One of the premier jazz musicians working today, vocalist Cassandra Wilson knows just how much she once benefited from “the elders,” and now she wants to pass along what she can. Wilson’s signature contralto is rich and smoky, distinctive for how it insinuates seamlessly into pop, R&B, blues, classic rock, reggae, bossa nova, country, spirituals, and traditional African styles. She’s now at work on a project of Sean-nós songs, an ancient vocal tradition unique to southwestern Ireland. While she’s found great success in jazz, Wilson, a two-time Grammy winner, is not interested in arbitrary musical categories and labels, a view evident in her relentless commitment to exploring...