Grammy-Winning Vocalist Cassandra Wilson Kicks Off da Camera's Jazz Series Oct. 20 With Rare Houston Appearance

Da Camera kicks off the jazz series with a rare Houston appearance by vocalist Cassandra Wilson on Saturday, October 20, 2012 at 8:00 PM at Cullen Theater, Wortham Theater Center. Wilson, who recently won the DownBeat Critics Poll for Female Vocalist, has not performed live in Houston in 15 years.

A two-time Grammy Award winner with a marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail, jazz vocalist Cassandra Wilson has been described by critic Gary Giddins as “a singer blessed with an unmistakable timbre and attack who has expanded the playing field” by incorporating blues, country and folk music into her work. Her most recent recording is this summer’s Another Country.

Wilson tells program annotator Rick Mitchell that her Houston show will be a mix of new material and familiar songs. “Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue,” she says. “That’s what we do.”

Cassandra Wilson is a jazz musician, vocalist, songwriter and producer from Jackson, Mississippi. She began playing piano at six, guitar by the age of twelve and was working as a vocalist by the mid-‘70s, singing a wide variety of material. After moving to New York City in the early ‘80s, Cassandra met saxophonist Steve Coleman and became one of the founding members of the M-Base Collective. She signed with Blue Note Records in 1992 and released a landmark album titled Blue Light ‘Til Dawn which would pave the way for a new generation of jazz singers. Her awards include two Grammys, the Django D’Or, the Edison Music Award, a marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail and the 2012 Echo Award for Jazz. She also performed one of the leading roles in Wynton Marsalis’ Blood on the Fields, the first jazz work to receive a Pulitzer Prize.   

Da Camera’s jazz series continues with Chucho Valdés on November 16 and the Ambrose Akinmusire Quintet on December 1. In 2013, Da Camera brings Christian McBride and Inside Straight to Houston on February 8 and the Don Byron New Gospel Quintet on March 22. The series closes on April 19 with Eric Harland Voyager.  Tickets for Cassandra Wilson are $70, $55 and $40 and are available by contacting Da Camera, 1427 Branard, at 713-524-5050 or online at www.dacamera.com.  Tickets for students, teachers and senior citizens are always half-price.