Cassandra Wilson, Trailblazing Jazz Icon, Dies at 70
Cassandra Wilson, the Mississippi-born, two-time Grammy-winning jazz vocalist known for blending blues, folk and other genres with a signature contralto, died at 70 in Jackson, Mississippi. Time magazine hailed her as America’s best singer in 2001; she won Grammys for New Moon Daughter (1997) and Loverly (2009) and was named an NEA Jazz Master in 2022. Her career spanned mentoring in New Orleans, leading Steve Coleman’s M-Base Collective, a Billie Holiday tribute at the Apollo in 2015, and her 2015 album Coming Forth by Day, reflecting a lasting Mississippi-rooted influence on global jazz.