We lost several strong women in one week – Dolly Parton, Gloria Steinem, and Cassandra Wilson. They couldn’t have expressed their spirits more differently from one another, but they were all exceptional models for living their lives with purpose and integrity.
Vocalist Cassandra Wilson, who was only 70 when she died on September 1, was raised in Jackson, Mississippi, which is where she died. She got the most recognition for her work in jazz, winning 2 Grammy Awards for Best Jazz Vocal Album and being named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master. But she did so much more.
Listening to Cassandra Wilson’s deeply resonant voice feels very intimate. She slows everything down, meditating on each syllable. Somehow her delivery makes you notice familiar words in a completely different light. Her musical style draws from Billie Holliday and Abbey Lincoln. And, like Nina Simone, she took songs from other genres and made them uniquely her own. Just listen to her versions of Lay, Lady, Lay by Bob Dylan, or Redemption Song by Bob Marley, or Last Train to Clarksville popularized by the Monkees.
She wrote, in a 2018 essay for the Walker Art Center, “I follow this path to pay respect to my elders, homage to the ancestors, and to present uniquely inspired performances for my audiences. This is not the workplace for a diva; it is a sacred space for the rituals of an adept… My means are modest because my calling is paramount. I will always seek the truth and never lose my courage to express what matters…. I solemnly vow to deliver the best that I can… ”
As my mentor Abbey Lincoln once said,
‘The best thing you can do is be a woman and stand before the world and speak your heart.’
~ Cassandra Wilson
Listen to her rendition of “Fragile,” by Sting
May we each stand before the world and speak our hearts while we can. We have so little time on this planet, and oh, how fragile we are.