jazz

 GRAMMY-WINNING 90s singer Cassandra Wilson has died aged 70.

The jazz singer died surrounded by family and friends on Wednesday.

The award-winning jazz vocalist from Jackson, Mississippi, worked with the Roots and co-founded the M-Base Collective.

Her manager of 20 years Robert Torre told WBGO: “It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Cassandra Wilson, the Grammy Award-winning and legendary jazz artist.

“Cassandra Wilson transitioned peacefully at home, surrounded by family, close friends, and her manager.”

Cassandra blended blues, country and folk music into her work.

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The singer was nominated for four Grammys, and won two in the Best Jazz Vocal Album.

Cassandra won for her 1997 album New Moon Daughter and for her 2007 album Loverly.

She was described by critic Gary Giddins as “a singer blessed with an unmistakable timbre and attack who has expanded the playing field”.

Cassandra was named as a Jazz Master in 2022 by the National Endowment of the Arts.

Tributes flooded in for the star, with fellow NEA Jazz Master Dorthaan Kirk saying she is “devastated” by the loss.

She said they were like family and Cassandra called her “Mother Kirk”.

Dorthaan said: “I’m just devastated. Cassandra completely related to me because she looked up to me as an elder and somebody that was in the business.”

Cassandra took up piano at six, guitar at 12 and launched her career as a vocalist in the 70s, moving to the Big Apple the next decade where she became one of the founding members of the M-Base Collective.

She later signed with Blue Note Records in 1992 and released her seminal album titled Blue Light ‘Till Dawn.

The singer collaborated on albums with Coleman, Greg Osby, and Wynton Marsalis.

Cassandra sang as the character Leona in Marsalis’ recording of his Blood on the Fields oratorio, which became the first jazz composition to win a Pulitzer Prize.

She was a guest vocalist on the Roots’ Silent Treatment and One Shine.

And star collaborators on her own work included Elvis Costello, John Legend, Jon Batiste and Ravi Coltrane.

She told The New York Times in 1994: “I continue to choose the path I take musically,

“And it’s not motivated by becoming famous or having a lot money, or any other pop motivation.”

In a nondescript black building in downtown L.A.’s Arts District, rich sounds of sax and bass filled the air for hours. Inside, surrounded by the paintings and posters of iconic musicians, albums and films, dozens of people gathered for a night designed to prove a simple point: You can’t “cancel” jazz.

On Thursday night, eight jazz artists and groups performed a pop-up show, including Okay Coleman!, the Don Brown Collective, Joy Guerilla, and Genghis Don, who also organized the event. All of these artists had one thing in common: They were billed to perform on the now-canceled inaugural L.A. Jazz Festival.

The planned 17-day event was supposed to kick off on Aug. 7 and feature dozens of performances spread throughout every City Council district. Organizers hoped the shows would draw 250,000 attendees and inaugurate the city as a home for jazz events on par with New Orleans and Montreal. The festival was to include a final show headlined by Janelle Monáe, John Legend, Charlie Wilson, Parliament Funkadelic and Raphael Saadiq at Dockweiler State Beach.

“When I got booked for it, I was really excited,” Genghis Don said. “It was one of the bigger festivals I’ve done so far in my career.”

Glen Turner of Joy Guerilla performs at the “Can’t Cancel Jazz” event Thursday.

(Brian Feinzimer / For The Times)

Then, the festival was abruptly canceled due to “last-minute public safety and municipal costs.”

But Don was determined for the show to go on. He partnered with Tída Norasingh of JIJI’s Jazz Club to host the “Can’t Cancel Jazz” pop-up show at Slow Jamz Gallery — a musical experience that was curated in less than 72 hours, according to Don.

“It all came together thanks to so many people who were involved in this,” Don said. “I really couldn’t have done any of this without them.”

The crowd, which leaned younger in part because the event allowed attendees 18 and older, trickled in around 7 p.m., and by 9 p.m., the party was in full swing. It was easy to see how audience members connected with the music by the way they cheered, danced and sang along through the night.

The pop-up show struck a balance between creating an accessible, music-forward environment for fans and providing support for the musicians who had been affected by the cancellation. The event’s entry fee was $20, while the nonalcoholic bar accepted additional donations. Some artists also had merch available for sale on site.

While “Can’t Cancel Jazz” may have been a response to the L.A. Jazz Festival being called off, it wasn’t aiming to replace it. Instead, the pop-up offered something more intimate. At times, the music overtook the gallery, completely captivating the attention of the room. At other moments, conversation and connection were happening right outside on the balcony between attendees, some of whom were meeting each other for the first time.

The result was something distinctly authentic with an underground quality that would have been hard to replicate at a sprawling, weeks-long festival.

“This was more so a test of L.A.’s community,” Don said. “They showed out, people came, the artists came together, and you know that’s the true definition of community.”