Cassandra Wilson

Since her father’s vitae includes playing bass for Sonny Boy Williamson and Ray Charles, no one would have blamed Cassandra Wilson if she’d gone to dental school and simply avoided the pressures and comparisons inherent in going into dad’s business (just ask Pete Rose, Jr. what the unhappy results can be). Luckily, Wilson picked up the cudgel and has become, since her 1985 debut, Songbook, arguably the finest jazz vocalist in the world. Persnickety critics have occasionally chastised her for picking inferior material, but anyone who can not only not fall on her face but also shine singing covers of Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit,” Hank Williams’s “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” and Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon” deserves a medal with oak-leaf cluster. Her latest, Glamoured, came out last year to excellent reviews.
Rossi’s; 90 S. 9th St., Minneapolis; (612) 312-2828; www.bluestarjazz.com


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