JIM MORET: Cassandra Wilson's album debuted at number one on the Billboard jazz chart. Now that should come as no surprise. She's only the most talked about vocalist to hit the jazz scene in years. Julie Jorgenson reports while her album is hot, Wilson's known for being cool as can be.

[excerpt from Cassandra Wilson performance]
 

JULIE JORGENSON: [voice-over] Heralded as the most important and daring jazz vocalist of her generation, Cassandra Wilson is mesmerizing audiences and critics alike.

[excerpt from the `David Letterman Show']
 

JULIE JORGENSON: David Letterman personally asked her to join his band and the New York Daily News ranks her fourth on its list of New York's 100 coolest people.

[excerpt from Cassandra Wilson performance]
 

CASSANDRA WILSON: It's wonderful to get that kind of response to the music.

JULIE JORGENSON: [voice-over] Wilson boldly goes where few jazz artists have gone before, tackling material from Neil Young, Hank Williams and the Monkees on the same album.

[excerpt from Cassandra Wilson performance]
 

CASSANDRA WILSON: It's very natural to me. It's always been very natural to me to hear all of this- these kinds of music, you know, and to play all of these kinds of music.

[excerpt from Cassandra Wilson performance] 
 

CASSANDRA WILSON: Just being able to close your eyes and fall back in the darkness, to surrender to the material, not try to drive it yourself.

[excerpt from Cassandra Wilson performance]
 

JULIE JORGENSON: [voice-over] With an eclectic mix of music, Wilson sees herself as a type of ambassador, bringing popular jazz to a mass audience.

CASSANDRA WILSON: There are very diverse elements in the music and I think by bringing together a diverse audience it's like a- I don't know, it's like doing work for peace.

[excerpt from Cassandra Wilson performance]
 

CASSANDRA WILSON: Music for me has always been magical. I used to confuse the words, in fact. I used to say music and magic, magic, I wanted to make magic.

JULIE JORGENSON: [voice-over] With an understated style, her philosophy is less is more. She says it's not about a vocal calisthenics, but rather selecting that one note which will speak to the heart.

[excerpt from Cassandra Wilson performance]
 

JULIE JORGENSON: [voice-over] Julie Jorgenson, CNN Entertainment News, Hollywood.

(The preceding text has been professionally transcribed. However, although the text has been checked against an audio track, in order to meet rigid distribution and transmission deadlines, it may not have been proofread against videotape.)

Source : 06/06/96 CNN Showbiz Today
Copyright CNN 1996