The Blue Note Welcomes Cassandra Wilson for Performances on 3/9-3/11

Cassandra Wilson returns to the Blue Note with her band from March 9 - 11. Since her last Blue Note appearance just over a year ago, Wilson received a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album for Loverly (Blue Note Records, 2009). Her most recent release is a collection of pop tunes from her Blue Note recordings titled Closer To You: The Pop Side (Blue Note, April '09). Earlier this year, Wilson received a Blues Marker in her hometown of Jackson, Mississippi, making hers the 100th marker on the famed Mississippi Blues Trail. At the Blue Note, she will be joined by guitarist Marvin Sewell, pianist Jon Batiste, bassist Reginald Veal, drummer Herlin Riley and percussionist Lekan Babalola.

 

WHEN: Tuesday, March 9 - Thursday, March 11, 2010;
Sets @ 8:00pm & 10:30pm

 

WITH: Cassandra Wilson, vocals; Marvin
Sewell, guitar; Jonathan Batiste, piano; Reginald Veal, bass; Herlin Riley,
drums; Lekan Babalola, percussion

 

COST: $55 @ table / $40 @ bar

 

WHERE: The Blue Note;
131 W 3rd. St, New York, NY 10012

 

MORE: Doors open at 6pm. Set times are 8pm and
10:30pm nightly.

 

BIO: Read any
of the dozen or so biographies on Cassandra Wilson and you'll discover
some basics: born and reared in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960s and 70s by
musician and educator parents. She studied piano for 13 years and played
clarinet in the concert and marching bands of junior high school. During the
70s, she could be found performing Joni Mitchell songs behind an acoustic
guitar, or in front of a large funk band, or in the company of long-time
friends in an all-girls band.

 

In the eighties, Cassandra moved to New Orleans, and
performed with Earl Turbinton and Ellis Marsalis. Quite by accident, she was
relocated to East Orange, New Jersey where she made a decision to take her
changes on the New York jazz scene. After a stint as the main vocalist with
Steve Coleman's M-Base Collective, Cassandra began recording on her own.
Her development can be tracked through her discography. From the standards on
Blue Skies to the Grammy-winning New Moon Daughter, to the combination of
originals and interpretations played by a collection of Mississippi and New
York musicians on both the 2001 release, Belly of the Sun, and 2003's
Glamoured, Cassandra continues to evolve as a vocalist, songwriter, and
producer.

 

In 2000, Wilson returned to Mississippi to establish Ojah
Media Group. Ojah, a Yoruba word meaning, the marketplace, is an independent
multi-media entity dedicated to documenting and marketing the unique sounds
emanating from Mississippi's fertile soil and its multi-cultural
influences. Ojah's premiere artist, singer-songwriter Rhonda Richmond,
released her first CD, Oshogbo Town (produced by Wilson and engineered by Sean
Mackie) in 2003. Inspired by the Yoruba deity, Oshun, both Oshogbo Town and
Rhythm and Strings feature the original compositions and arrangements for which
Richmond is celebrated.

 

Wilson's latest Blue Note effort is the Grammy-winning
Loverly, a tantalizing, rhythmically driven collection of jazz standards given
new luster with a top-drawer band of friends that includes Marvin Sewell on
guitar, Jason Moran on piano, Herlin Riley on drums, Lekan Babalola on
percussion and Lonnie Plaxico on bass (with guests Reginald Veal on bass and
Nick Payton on trumpet).

 

Even though Wilson is credited as the producer of Loverly,
she says that the songs came together in a joint effort with her band. "I
am the unproducer," she says with a laugh. "I listen to
everyone's opinion about the songs. Some people say that that is a fault.
But I like the democratic approach. I like the input, and then we play the
tunes, capturing the energy and the improvisational voices of everyone."

 

Cassandra Wilson is a world renowned vocalist, songwriter
and producer, with an extraordinary following, but at heart she is still a
Mississippi girl whose art reflects her deep musical and cultural roots,
anchored in the fertile Mississippi soil.

 

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