Cassandra Wilson, Grammy-winning jazz vocalist, dead at 70

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Set us as preferred Cassandra Wilson, the Grammy-winning vocalist known for her deep roots in classic jazz and wide-ranging renditions from blues, folk and country, has died.She was 70.John Horhn, the mayor of Wilson’s native Jackson, Miss., released a statement saying “Jackson has lost an extraordinary native daughter, and the world has lost a singular musical voice.

Cassandra Wilson carried the sound, spirit and history of Mississippi with her wherever her music reached.” The statement did not give a cause of death.Wilson’s catalog showcased the full breadth of her native Mississippi’s musical heritage, drawing primarily from jazz but spanning every foundational American genre.After attending Jackson State University and Millsaps College, Wilson got a job at a New Orleans television station, which put her in the orbit of local jazz legends Ellis Marsalis and Alvin Batiste, among others.

Wilson moved to New York City and joined saxophonist Steve Coleman’s influential M-Base Collective, debuting with her 1986 LP “Point of View.” Music Music mogul Clive Davis, the celebrated producer and label executive who signed and nurtured genre-defining musicians such as Janis Joplin, Bruce Springsteen and Whitney Houston, has died.Blue Note Records released her breakthrough solo LP, 1993’s “Blue Light ‘Til Dawn,” a mix of originals and covers of work by blues pioneer Robert Johnson and folk singers Van Morrison and Joni Mitchell.The album made her a star beyond sophisticated jazz spheres, with Time magazine once referring to Wilson as “America’s best singer.” 1995’s “New Moon Daughter” won the Grammy for jazz vocal performance (which she would win again in 2009 for “Loverly,” along with two other Grammy nominations).

In 1997, she contributed to Wynton Marsalis’ Pulitzer Prize-winning “Blood on...