Wilson's repertoire includes both jazz and blues standards and renditions of pop and rock songs. Her contralto voice has been described as bluesy and sultry, and the style of her music ranges from swing to funk to bossa nova. Many of the songs she covers are by artists who usually record in other genres.
Wilson counts the late Miles Davis as one of her greatest influences. In 1989 she performed as the opening act for Davis at the JVC Jazz Festival in Chicago. In 1999 she produced Traveling Miles as a tribute to Davis. The album developed from a series of jazz concerts that she performed at Lincoln Center in November 1997 in Davis's honor and includes three selections based on Davis's own compositions, in which Wilson adapted the original themes.
A Brief Discography
Point of View (1986, JMT)
Days Aweigh (1987, JMT)
Blue Skies (1988, JMT)
Jumpworld (1989, JMT)
She Who Weeps (1990, JMT)
Live (1991, JMT)
After the Beginning Again (1992, JMT)
Dance to the Drums Again (1992, DIW/Columbia)
Blue Light 'til Dawn (1993, Blue Note)
New Moon Daughter (1995, Blue Note)
Rendezvous (with Jacky Terrasson) (1998, Blue Note)
Traveling Miles (1999, Blue Note)
Belly of the Sun (2002, Blue Note)
Glamoured (2003, Blue Note)
Thunderbird (2006, Blue Note)
Loverly (2008, Blue Note)
Silver Pony (2010, Blue Note)
Another Country (2012, eOne)
Official website: www.cassandrawilson.com
Resurrection Blues
Cassandra Wilson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
stillness before the light
the blues moves thru
resurrective beyond to you
the song sleep inside you
till you call it out - oooh…
an the soldier prepares to die
the world spins by
there's a stars cross the evening sky
feeling small mountains
when you call them out - ooh...
Chat ……
music solo's
the cool clear night
stillness before the light
the blues move thru
resurrective beyond to you
the song sleeps inside you
till you call it out
pa ta ta tata...
The lyrics to Cassandra Wilson's song Resurrection Blues speak eloquently of the power of music to lift us up, to help us transcend our earthly concerns and connect with something greater than ourselves. The cool clear night, the stillness before the light, all of these images carry a sense of anticipation, a sense of waiting for something to happen. When the blues move through us, however, we are lifted up, taken beyond ourselves and into a state of resurrection. This is especially true when we call out the music that is inside us, when we allow ourselves to be moved by the power of our own emotions and to share them with the world around us.
The lyrics continue to touch on the themes of life and death, of the soldier prepared to die and the world spinning by. There is a sense of both the fleeting nature of life and the enduring power of music to connect us to something greater than ourselves. The stars crossing the evening sky remind us of the infinite vastness of the universe and our small place within it, and yet the lyrics remind us that when we call out to the mountains, even our smallness can be transformed into something powerful and profound.
Line by Line Meaning
The Cool clear night
The peaceful, serene atmosphere of a clear night
stillness before the light
The quietness before dawn breaks
the blues moves thru
The essence of blues music flows through the night
resurrective beyond to you
The music bringing a sense of revitalization or rebirth to the listener
the song sleep inside you
An internalization of the music that stays with the listener
till you call it out - oooh...
The music waiting within until the listener brings it forth
the babe cries
A crying baby, perhaps symbolizing distress or sadness
an the soldier prepares to die
A soldier accepting their inevitable fate of death in battle
the world spins by
Life goes on, regardless of these individual moments
there's a stars cross the evening sky
The beauty and vastness of the universe surrounding us
feeling small mountains
A powerful moment that makes one feel insignificant in comparison to nature
when you call them out - ooh...
An internal desire or call to reach out to the larger world around us
music solo's
An instrumental break within the song
pa ta ta tata...
Onomatopoeic sounds, perhaps representing the rhythm or beat of the music
Contributed by Grace R. Suggest a correction in the comments below.