January 20, 2004
Contact: Susan Gwynne
(805) 893-2098
e-mail: gwynne-s@sa.ucsb.edu
The terrific jazz diva Cassandra Wilson and her band perform at UCSB Campbell Hall
Summary Facts:
- Cassandra Wilson
- Wilson is an unparalleled jazz singer and songwriter
- She was hailed as America’s Best Singer by Time magazine
- Her recordings include Glamoured and Blue Light ‘Til Dawn
- Wednesday, February 25
- 8 pm / UCSB Campbell Hall
- General public: $40, $35 / UCSB students: $19, $16
- Tickets & Information: UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535
The bluesy, sultry, jazz diva Cassandra Wilson will perform with her four member band at UCSB Campbell Hall on Wednesday, February 25 at 8 pm. Blessed with a genius for making songs her own with her honey-tinged contralto, Wilson can swing, improvise and draw listeners deep into a story, making magic of everything from the Monkees to Miles Davis, plus her own inspired compositions. Touring in support of Glamoured, her CD released in October 2003, Wilson will interpret songs from contemporary pop to Delta blues to the great American songbook. Time magazine billed Cassandra Wilson “America’s Best Singer,” asserting, “There is no more pure and uncontrived female force in our national music today.”
Cassandra Wilson’s latest album Glamoured features her trademark mix of first-rate originals and adventurous covers of other songwriters’ works, this time picking material by Muddy Waters, Bob Dylan, Sting, Abbey Lincoln and Willie Nelson. “‘Glamoured’ is a Gaelic word meaning ‘to be whisked away,’” Wilson explains. “It’s like being in a daydream, those split seconds when you’re transfixed and your eyes don’t move and you have to shake yourself out of it. This album captures the feeling of that reverie.”
Her live performances are noted for such a satisfying mood, too. After a recent concert The New York Times described how Wilson could find “a sultry, melancholy serenity.... Wilson lingers over preternaturally elongated notes. She could cling lovingly to a melody. She could unveil the unexpectedly lonely core of a song or tease it toward jazzy abstractions. She made every whim sound like a glimpse of wisdom.”
Born in Jackson, Mississippi, Wilson started piano and guitar lessons at the age of nine. In 1975 she began singing professionally, primarily folk and blues, working in various R&B and Top 20 cover version bands. Her career as a jazz singer began under the tutelage of drummer Alvin Fielder and performing with the Black Arts Music Society in her hometown. After a brief stint in New Orleans, she relocated to New York in 1982 and began working with Dave Holland and Abbey Lincoln. In 1985, she guested on Steve Coleman’s Motherland Pulse and was asked by the JMT label to record her own albums. Her debut album Point of View, featuring Coleman and guitarist Jean-Paul Bourelly, made her name in New York jazz circles. She sang with Henry Threadgill’s trio New Air, and he returned the compliment by helping with arrangements on her second album Days Aweigh. Her 1988 release Blue Skies, a captivating set of standards, was named jazz album of the year by Billboard. Never one to be pigeonholed, Wilson followed-up this success with the unusual Jumpworld, a record that mixed science fiction themes with rap, funk and jazz. In the ‘90s, Wilson continued to record on Steve Coleman’s albums and made guest appearances with other musicians associated with Coleman’s M-Base organization, such as Greg Osby and Robin Eubanks.
Her latest recordings on Blue Note Records have exposed her to a much wider market. 1993’s Grammy-nominated Blue Light ‘Til Dawn won critically acclaim from both jazz and pop critics alike. New Moon Daughter, released in 1996, was hailed as “impressive in its emotional depth and musical scope” by the Washington Post. Traveling Miles, her 1999 release, was a riveting and haunting excursion into music played by, written by or inspired by Miles Davis. 2002’s Belly of the Sun brought Wilson full circle to her Mississippi home, with a collection of songs filtered through the musical landscape of the South. USA Today wrote in a four-star (out of four) review, “After a decade of critical acclaim for her adventurous recordings, Cassandra Wilson just keeps raising the bar. On her newest, the New York-based singer returns to her roots in the Mississippi Delta and finds inspiration for a soulful and personal work. Unlike many popular jazz singers (a term perhaps too confining for Wilson), she has constantly stretched beyond standards from the American Songbook and delivered startling interpretations of songs from a variety of genres.”
This performance is presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures and sponsored by Longoria Wines, the Santa Barbara Independent, KCLU Public Radio, El Encanto Hotel and Garden Villas and Borders Books. Tickets are $40 and $35 for the general public and $19 and $16 for UCSB students.
For tickets or more information,
call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535.
Editor: For photos, please call
Susan Gwynne at (805) 893-2098.