Cassandra Wilson Reprises

Wilson Reprises Blue Light in New York City wenty years ago, the paradigm of a jazz beats—she performed the album from start to !n- Tvocal album was a singer, a set from the ish. As on the record, she evoked a sensual, all- Great American Songbook and a piano night vigil in which the listener has the sensation trio. Maybe there was a guitarist, a horn soloist of eavesdropping on a heartbroken soliloquy. or the occasional string arrangement. en came “You Don’t Know What Love Is,” one of the Cassandra Wilson’s 1993 game-changing album, most rueful and bluesy ballads ever written, was Blue Light ’Til Dawn , her !rst on Blue Note. the perfect opener. A#er a rubato intro, the band Wilson revisited the album on its 20th anni- adopted an undulating 6/8 meter that became the versary before a packed house at New York’s backdrop for a violin solo by Burnham. “Come Highline Ballroom on Jan. 13. She was backed On In My Kitchen” included a variety of picked by an expanded eight-piece orchestra including and strummed instruments, including Kevin members of the original band (guitarist Brandon Breit’s electric mandolin, and eloquent harmoni- Ross, string-player Charlie Burnham and bassist ca commentary by Gregoire Maret. Lonnie Plaxico). e concert marked the begin- One of the few songs whose live presentation Cassandra Wilson onstage at New York’s Highline Ballroom on Jan. 13 ADAM MCCULLOUGH ning of a busy year for the jazz diva that will arguably surpassed the album’s original arrange- include the release of an expanded edition of Blue ment was “Tell Me You’ll Wait For Me,” written Light , a U.S. and European tour in the spring and by Charles Brown and Oscar Moore and made the recording of a Billie Holiday tribute album. famous by Ray Charles. On the album version, On Blue Light , Wilson—with help from !rst- Wilson’s smoky voice is accompanied only by time producer Craig Street and guitarist-arrang- bass and drums. At the Highline, the accompani- er Ross—realized an original vision of what a jazz ment was expanded to include lyrical pianism by vocal album could be. e eclectic album included Jon Cowherd and a haunting chromatic harmon- her interpretations of Robert Johnson’s Delta blues ica solo by Maret. roughout the show, Wilson (“Come On In My Kitchen,” “Hellhound On My explored the emotional possibilities of the slow Trail”), Van Morrison and Joni Mitchell’s jazzy tempos, which served as an expansive landscape folk-rock (“Tupelo Honey,” “Black Crow”), r&b, for her expert manipulation of time. world music-"avored originals and a lone stan- A#er completing the song cycle, Wilson fol- dard: “You Don’t Know What Love Is.” e songs lowed up with her rhythmic explorations of were presented in a funky, string-based acoustic Bitches Brew ’s “Miles Runs e Voodoo Down,” blues style with nary a piano in sight. e record her unique version of e Monkees’ “Last Train was hugely in"uential, paving the way for artists To Clarksville” and her devastating take on like Norah Jones and a profusion of roots music Holiday’s “Strange Fruit.” now under the umbrella of Americana. Is Cassandra Wilson, as Time magazine At the Highline show, Wilson’s stage presence famously called her in 2001, “America’s Best and ability to tap into deep emotion made her Singer”? Hard to say. Certainly in this show she appearance as much a theatrical event as a musi- demonstrated that she is in full control of one cal one. Draped for the occasion in a simple blue of the most "exible and dramatically expressive dress—her braids swaying with the languorous voices in jazz. —Allen Morrison APRIL 2014 DOWNBEAT 21.

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