Jazz singer Cassandra Wilson dies at 70

musicSep 2, 2026301,057

Cassandra Wilson, the Jackson, Mississippi born jazz singer, songwriter and two-time Grammy Award winner, died September 2 at age 70 in Jackson, Mississippi. Her manager of 20 years, Robert Torre, said Wilson "transitioned peacefully at home, surrounded by family, close friends, and her manager" and that memorial details will be shared later. WBGO notes Wilson was an NEA Jazz Master whose career blended jazz with blues, country and folk; critic Gary Giddins praised her "unmistakable timbre and attack" and said she expanded the playing field. WBGO host Gary Walker recalled meeting Wilson in Newark in 1982 when she had just moved to New York; Wilson had been married then to WBGO weekend announcer Anthony Wilson. Wilson began piano at six, learned guitar by twelve, was performing as a vocalist by the mid 1970s, and after moving to New York in the early 1980s became a founding member of Steve Coleman’s M-Base Collective before pursuing a more acoustic context for her voice. Mississippi official Horhn said, "Jackson has lost an extraordinary native daughter, and the world has lost a singular musical voice." WBGO staffer Dorthaan Kirk, an NEA Jazz Master, remembered Wilson as family and said she first recognized Wilson’s special presence when taking her to Lush Life in Greenwich Village.

Rolling Stone

@rollingstone.com

Cassandra Wilson, the two-time Grammy-winning jazz vocalist who collaborated with the Roots, Angelique Kidjo, and others, died Wednesday. Read ↓

56322h ago

Steve Gallagher💙💚8

This is sad news indeed. Losing too much love these days.

Green Hombre7

Terrible news. She was fantastic.

Keeping The Fé4

May she rest in musical glory.

Nici3

Her voice was amazing. Her version of Strange Fruit blew me away. She sang blues and jazz from the heart a true artist 🌹

ALDGRichonneLover 🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕💍3

She was sooo good! I have several of her CDs and I loved her voice! She was fantastic in the world of jazz and blues music! Her rendition of Cyndi Laupers Time After Time was exquisite. 😢 #RIPCassandra 🕊

bixtram.bsky.social3

My generational heroes are dying off, but her music and personality will live on as long as people listen to music.

Quoting this

Julianne Wingate16

May she Rest In Peace !

Matana Roberts5

also her end life political bent aside, she really dealt with some peak arts life BS as a woman in her early career days. Not sure those stories will ever be told now. But those that know, know and the most important part: she kept going anyway.

Thomas Bartscherer4

Hélas. A powerful artist, whose reinterpretations were revelations.

Tatiana Rod3

Vi a Cassandra Wilson no finado Palace, em 1994, no Free Jazz Festival. Que voz, que presença. Foi um show lindo, de última hora. E que grata surpresa. Tô triste.

Prof Gavin Yamey MD MPH

@gavinyamey.bsky.social

RIP Cassandra Wilson, one of the greatest jazz singers of all time; I will pay my tributes on my radio show tomorrow

111Yesterday

SyimonTemplar😇1

Oh nooooo!! 💔🥲 RIP Cassandra Wilson. Legend. 🕊️

Quoting this

Shane Liesegang, SJ5

oh dang her version of "Tupelo Honey" is one of the deep load-bearing support pillars in my soul

Blue Note Records

@bluenoterecords.bsky.social

We're deeply saddened by the news that Cassandra Wilson has passed away. One of the most distinctive voices in modern jazz, Cassandra wove an alluring tapestry of jazz, blues, folk, and R&B into a singular sound that opened up new avenues of expression for vocal jazz: bluenote.lnk.to/CassandraWil...

68Yesterday

Quoting this

Chris Robinson2

Wow. So many artists gone in the last week. This is a tough one.

Hedgerow Bustler

@joelcreese.bsky.social

Two geniuses gone too early here: Wilson and the brilliant, tormented Chris Whitley. www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRbw...

54Yesterday

Stephan John Meyers4

Have you caught the Whitley doc, ‘Dust Radio?’ Don’t think it got a formal release. I watched this cut on YouTube. youtu.be/eehEE364m_Y?...

Peter Butler1

What?! Cassandra Wilson? Oh no ... this is how I find out

Helen Kennedy

@helenkennedy.com

One of my favorite jazz vocals of all time: Cassandra Wilson doing Prophet of Doom. RIP. (It's a long track but really worth the listen) youtu.be/qQWs37DXVis

44Yesterday

Kelly Miller3

Really loved her. She skipped the Great American Songbook and expanded the standard jazz instrumentation and created her own unique oeuvre. Neil Young's "Harvest Moon" youtu.be/YHbcwby7igA?...

Waltereggers1

Dang. I listened loads to her in the mid-90s. Such a great voice. R.I.P.

Sean Walters

@seanwrite.bsky.social

The late Cassandra Wilson’s sublime 1993 cover of the Van Morrison song “Tupelo Honey”. From her Blue Note album Blue Light ‘til Dawn. #RIPCassandraWilson #Jazz #BlueNote m.youtube.com/watch?v=rJuK...

2917h ago

Nate Crowder

@natecrowder.bsky.social

Sad to hear of Cassandra Wilson's passing. I've always loved her voice. Now listening to her exceptional Blue Light Til Dawn album while it rains outside. #jazzsky youtu.be/-JaE8XqYWbc?...

1822h ago

Brian Stack

@brianstack153.bsky.social

Cassandra Wilson’s incredible version of Jimi Hendrix’s “The Wind Cries Mary”. Still one of the best covers I’ve ever heard. Rest In Peace, Cassandra Wilson. youtube.com/watch?v=0ZGN...

1620h ago

Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)

@bowiesongs.bsky.social

"It’s your responsibility as a jazz musician not to adulterate, but to augment, to extend, to amplify, to reconfigure, because that’s the whole foundation, that’s the whole basis of this music, jazz." Cassandra Wilson, interviewed by Glenn O'Brien, 1999: bombmagazine.org/articles/199...

CW No. It’s your responsibility as a jazz musician not to adulterate, but to augment, to extend, to amplify, to reconfigure, because that’s the whole foundation, that’s the whole basis of this music, jazz. That’s why it’s considered to be derived more from an African aesthetic than a European aesthetic. It’s dynamic and life can enter into it. There’s a parallel between the religion and the music. It’s a living music, as is the religion—that has not been really acknowledged as a part of that tradition, but I think the two parallel each other. Religion goes through so many manifestations in order to survive.

1623h ago

Dr. Carol Tilley 🏳️‍🌈

@anuncivilphd.bsky.social

Goodnight, friends. This is one of the first songs I heard Cassandra Wilson perform. Van Morrison may have made it famous, but her version moves me in ways his never has. I love you.

1219h ago

Kevin M. Levin

@civilwarmemory.bsky.social

This is incredibly sad. My wife and I have seen her in concert multiple times. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/02/a...

1521h ago

John Lund

@numusicnulife.bsky.social

The full-length New York Times obituary for the iconic jazz-and-beyond singer Cassandra Wilson is now available. Explore this gift article; you can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/02/a...

517h ago

Levi Stahl

@levistahl.bsky.social

RIP Cassandra Wilson. Her version of Son House’s “Death Letter” is flat-out chilling. The year it came out, we played the album this came from, New Moon Daughter, enough to just about melt it at the CD store where I worked. And just about every time we had it on, we sold it.

916h ago

upfromsumdirt

@upfromsumdirt.blacksky.app

cassandra wilson, meshell ndegeocello, sarah vaughan, and jill scott got me through the day following a divorce.... then abbey lincoln got cassandra's spot in 2016. i dont play jill as much these days so maybe it's time for another reshuffle.

1518h ago

Cirenzi

@cirellan.bsky.social

“Blue Light ’Til Dawn,” from Cassandra Wilson’s 1993 breakthrough album of the same name, helped establish the dark, intimate sound that made her such a singular voice in jazz. Rest in peace, Cassandra Wilson. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo-k...

623h ago

3 sources

wlbt.comJackson-born Grammy winner Cassandra Wilson dies at 70 wbgo.orgWBGO mourns the loss of NEA Jazz Master and two-time Grammy Award-winning vocalist Cassandra Wilson wapt.comJackson native jazz singer Cassandra Wilson passes away

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Jazz singer Cassandra Wilson dies at 70

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