Cassandra Wilson

Cassandra Wilson continues to move down a highly eclectic path on Belly of the Sun, the somewhat belated follow-up to Traveling Miles. While displaying a jazz singer's mastery of melodic nuance and improvisatory phrasing, Wilson draws on a variety of non-jazz idioms -- roots music, rock, Delta blues, country, soul -- to create a kind of earthy, intelligent pop with obvious crossover appeal.

Her core band includes guitarists Marvin Sewell and Kevin Breit, who blend marvelously, Sewell mostly on mellow acoustic and Breit adding atmospheric touches on electric, 12-string, and slide guitars, as well as mandolin, banjo, and even bouzouki. Bassist Mark Peterson and percussionists Jeffrey Haynes and Cyro Baptista provide a superbly sensitive rhythmic foundation.

Wilson and band are in peak interpretive form on these ethereal reinventions. While her own lyrics may not rise to the level of a Robbie Robertson or a Bob Dylan, her versatility and focus come through clearly on the originals "Justice," "Just a Parade" (a collaboration with neo-soul rookie India.Arie), and the Caribbean-tinged "Cooter Brown."- David R Adler/AMG

Clarksdale, MS & New York, 2001

SIDE A:

01. The Weight
02. Justice
03. Darkness On The Delta

SIDE B:

01. Waters Of March
02. You Gotta Move
03. Only A Dream In Rio

SIDE C:

01. Just Another Parade
02. Wichita Lineman
03. Shelter From The Storm

SIDE D:

01. Drunk As Cooter Brown
02. Show Me A Love
03. Road So Clear
04. Hot Tamales