Cassandra Wilson
Cassandra Wilson (born 4 December 1955; died 1 September 2026) was a Cassandra Wilson studied at Jackson State University, Millsaps College and Murrah High School. The recorded working language is English. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are jazz and vocal music.
Also recorded as Death Letter
Cassandra Wilson

Professor Bop · JAZZ: Cassandra Wilson 7 · CC BY 2.0
- Born
- 1955 · Jackson.
- Nationality
- United States
- Occupation
- songwriter · musician · singer · composer
- Fields
- jazz · vocal music
- Education
- Jackson State University · Millsaps College · Murrah High School
- Honours
- honorary doctor of the Berklee College of Music · NEA Jazz Masters
- Languages
- English
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Documentary summary
Cassandra Wilson (born 4 December 1955; died 1 September 2026) was a Cassandra Wilson studied at Jackson State University, Millsaps College and Murrah High School. The recorded working language is English. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are jazz and vocal music.
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Authority files
wikidata · Q239860 · wikipedia · Cassandra Wilson
In this article
Life and work
Life and work
Wilson worked between 1955 and 2026 across jazz singer, songwriter, recording artist, composer and jazz musician and 2 further recorded occupations. The registers place that work in jazz and vocal music. This article rests on 96 catalogued compositions, 8 published texts, 52 issued recordings, 1 digitised documents and 8 scholarly references drawn from named institutional registers. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.
Cassandra Wilson studied at Jackson State University, Millsaps College and Murrah High School. The recorded working language is English. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are jazz and vocal music. Places of work recorded in the authority are New Orleans. Distinctions recorded are honorary doctor of the Berklee College of Music and NEA Jazz Masters.
Cassandra Wilson was born on 4 December 1955 in Jackson. Wilson held the nationality of United States. Wilson was educated at Jackson State University, Millsaps College and Murrah High School. Wilson worked as jazz singer, songwriter, recording artist and composer, and the authority record catalogues a further 3 occupations under the same name, among them jazz musician, singer and record producer. Wilson was active from 1985 to 2026. Wilson worked in New Orleans. The fields Wilson worked in include jazz and vocal music. Wilson played the voice. Wilson worked in English.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
Explore 1955–2026
The full dated record · 5 entries
1955
Cassandra Wilson was born 4 December 1955.
2020
Receives honorary doctor of the Berklee College of Music.
2020
Cassandra Wilson received honorary doctor of the Berklee College of Music in 2020.
2026
Dies at Jackson.
2026
Cassandra Wilson died 1 September 2026.
Compositions, 1938
Catalogued output
Compositions, 1938
The entries below are works composed by the subject, as the institutional registers catalogue them; later performances and commercial recordings of the same music are listed separately. They belong to a run of 96 titles in all, from 1938 to 1938.
1 composition carry the date 1938
You Go to My Head
1938
Compositions without a settled date
Catalogued output
Compositions without a settled date
95 further compositions are catalogued under Wilson's name without a date the collections agree on, which is why they are set apart from the dated run rather than placed in it. A selection is set out below and the complete run may be opened beneath it. I Didn’t Know What Time It Was. Finally Made Me Happy. Love Is Blindness. (If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don’t Want to Be Right. Don't Drink That Corner My Life Is in the Bush. ’Round Midnight.
If You Know How
Children of the Night
A Piece of Software
Let’s Face the Music and Dance
Another Rainy Day
Baubles, Bangles and Beads
A Day in the Life of a Fool
I’ve Got You Under My Skin
Last Train to Clarksville
I Can’t Stand the Rain
Lover, Come Back to Me
I’m Old Fashioned
The complete catalogue · 56
If You Know How
Children of the Night
A Piece of Software
Let’s Face the Music and Dance
Another Rainy Day
Baubles, Bangles and Beads
A Day in the Life of a Fool
I’ve Got You Under My Skin
Last Train to Clarksville
I Can’t Stand the Rain
Lover, Come Back to Me
I’m Old Fashioned
Dust My Broom
Love Phases Dimensions
Days of Wine and Roses
Just Keep Thinking of Eubay
Dance to the Drummer Again
Apricots on Their Wings
I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face
A Little Warm Death
Last Song (For Lester)
Don't look back
Come On In My Kitchen
Gone With the Wind
Easy Rider Blues
I Am Waiting
A Sleepin’ Bee
Gee, Baby Ain’t I Good to You
I Want to Be Loved
All of Me
Letting You Go
Grand System Masters
Drunk as Cooter Brown
I Will Be There
Dancing in Dreamtime
Hellhound on My Trail
Carol of the Drum
Love and Hate
Don’t Blame Me
Just Another Parade
I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry
For the Roses
Body and Soul
Good Morning Heartache
I’ll Be Seeing You
Closer to You
Glad You're Here
(When It's) Darkness on the Delta
If It’s Magic
I'm Only Human
Lay, Lady, Lay
Achtud El Buod (Children’s Song)
Black and Yellow
I Thought You Knew
Crazy He Calls Me
I Wished on the Moon
Writings on music, 1974–2022
Catalogued output
Writings on music, 1974–2022
These are catalogued publications carrying the name — editions and printings, distinct from the works they contain and from writing about the subject. The 2010s are the densest part of the run, with 3 titles, and that concentration is a fact about what the registers have catalogued rather than a judgement on the work itself. They belong to a run of 8 titles in all, from 1974 to 2022.
7 editions carry dates between 1974 and 2022
The run opens with Rape and closes with American Poet!
The entries follow Open Library
Rape
1974
Does My Nakedness Offend You?
2000
Poems Volume 2
2013
American poet!
2013
Poems Volume 3
2016
8 Reid Street
2022
Poems
2022
Writings on music without a settled date
Catalogued output
Writings on music without a settled date
1 further edition are catalogued under Wilson's name without a date the collections agree on, which is why they are set apart from the dated run rather than placed in it.
Issued recordings
Primary material
Issued recordings
These are published sound issues catalogued under the name. Most postdate the works they carry, and an issue is never counted here as a work of composition. 20 issues carry dates between 1986 and 2015. The run opens with Point of View and closes with Coming Forth by Day. The 1990s are the densest part of the run, with 8 titles, and that concentration is a fact about what the registers have catalogued rather than a judgement on the work itself.
Recordings and discography
Primary material
Recordings and discography
The discography assembled here shows how Wilson's work has been published in sound, not what Wilson made. 32 sound issues are catalogued, carrying dates from 1985 to 2022. An issue is a published recording, distinct from the composition it carries, from a printed score of that composition and from any single performance of it; none of the entries below is counted in the catalogue of compositions above, and several of them carry the same work in different readings. The 1990s are the densest decade of publication, with 14 issues. The performers and issuing labels are as the discographic register states them; where it names no performer the article names none. Air Show No.
Blue Skies
1988
Jumpworld
1990
Silver Pony
2010
Point of View
1985
Songs From The Album 'New Moon Daughter'
1996
Live
1991
Rendezvous
1997
Another Country
2022
Glamoured
2003
Loverly
2008
Red Guitar
2012
Blue Light ’Til Dawn
1993
Sings Standards
2002
New Moon Daughter
1996
Thunderbird
2006
From the JMT Years
2004
Songbook
1995
The Finest In Jazz
1999
She Who Weeps
1991
Traveling Miles
1999
Moonglow
2021
Dance to the Drums Again
1992
Jazz Festival, Donostia '03
2003
Belly of the Sun
2002
Coming Forth by Day
2015
After the Beginning Again
1992
Closer to You: The Pop Side
2009
The Best Of
1995
Days Aweigh
1987
Best of the JMT Years
2007
Primary material
Documents and archives
institutional register
- Bibliothèque nationale de France authority file 13933749r
Unverified · Bibliothèque nationale de France
- Discogs authority file 44120
Unverified · Discogs
- FAST authority file 306631
Unverified · FAST
- GND (German National Library) authority file 133465691
Unverified · GND (German National Library)
- IdRef (French universities) authority file 086261517
Unverified · IdRef (French universities)
- ISNI authority file 0000000114501648
Unverified · ISNI
reference work
- “Cassandra Wilson”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Where the work is held
Honours and awards
2 honours stand against the name
NEA Jazz Masters. Honorary doctor of the Berklee College of Music
2020
Authority records
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
institutional register
Bibliothèque nationale de France authority file 13933749rBibliothèque nationale de France
Partially resolvedinstitutional register
Discogs authority file 44120Discogs
Partially resolvedinstitutional register
Partially resolvedinstitutional register
GND (German National Library) authority file 133465691GND (German National Library)
Partially resolvedinstitutional register
IdRef (French universities) authority file 086261517IdRef (French universities)
Partially resolvedinstitutional register
Partially resolvedinstitutional register
Library of Congress authority file n92070625Library of Congress
Partially resolvedinstitutional register
Partially resolved
Every cited source · 11
- 01
Bibliothèque nationale de France authority file 13933749r
institutional register · Unverified · Bibliothèque nationale de France
Consult the source - 02
- 03
- 04
GND (German National Library) authority file 133465691
institutional register · Unverified · GND (German National Library)
Consult the source - 05
IdRef (French universities) authority file 086261517
institutional register · Unverified · IdRef (French universities)
Consult the source - 06
- 07
Library of Congress authority file n92070625
institutional register · Unverified · Library of Congress
Consult the source - 08
- 09
- 10
Wikidata, structured authority record Q239860: Cassandra Wilson
institutional register · Unverified · Wikimedia Foundation
Consult the source - 11
“Cassandra Wilson”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
reference work · Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Consult the source
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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