CD Reviews

Cassandra Wilson

THUNDERBIRD | Blue Note

By JON GARELICK | April 24, 2006

3.0 Stars

ENHANCED ROOTS: Cassandra Wilson gets her groove back on Thunderbird.

On 2003’s Glamoured, a decade after shaking up ideas about jazz vocal records and repertoire with producer Craig Street and guitarist Brandon Ross on Blue Light til Dawn (Blue Note), Cassandra Wilson seemed to have settled into a steady state of artful, loose-tempo, dreamy jazz pop. Which is why it’s so refreshing to hear her singing over actual grooves on Thunderbird. New producer T-Bone Burnett combines the rootsy elements that have become part of her musical identity with contemporary trip-hoppy production. So the standout tracks — “Going to Mexico,” with its Wild Tchoupitoulas “Hey Pocky A-Way” sample, and “It Would Be So Easy,” with its ticka-ticka keyboard and guitar figures — groove, giving a flexible spine to Wilson’s mile-wide alto and free-flowing delivery. On dependable ancient blues like “Easy Rider” and Willie Dixon’s “I Want To Be Loved,” Burnett isn’t afraid to lay on the slide guitar and a rock beat. It’s deliberate but unfussy production, especially effective when the beats clear for some acoustic jazz piano chords and Wilson sings, “You know, the man I love/He must be out of town.” Reginald Veal’s bass playing underscores the jazz sensibility throughout. After a couple of listens, I even got to like Wilson’s “Red River Valley.”

Related: Cassandra Wilson | Loverly, Sense in the sound, Year in Jazz: Playing for keeps, More

Topics: CD Reviews , Willie Dixon, T-Bone Burnett, Cassandra Wilson, More

| More

Most Popular

The Current Issue

Table of Contents

Cover Archive

Masthead | Authors | Contact us

Blogs

Where To Follow Me
Talking Politics | March 24, 2013 at 11:09 AM

Mo Takes His Turn
March 21, 2013 at 12:59 PM

[Q&A] KMFDM's Sascha Konietzko on art, Columbine and having balls
On The Download | March 18, 2013 at 3:22 PM

See this film series: The Belmont World Film Series @ Studio Cinema in Belmont
Outside The Frame | March 18, 2013 at 11:00 AM

See this film: This is Spinal Tap [with post-film talk by expert from Acoustical Society of America] @ the Coolidge
March 17, 2013 at 12:00 PM

ARTICLES BY JON GARELICK

KURT ROSENWINKEL QUARTET AT THE REGATTABAR | March 07, 2013
Sometimes it takes a few minutes for me to adjust to Kurt Rosenwinkel.

FRED HERSCH TRIO AT SCULLERS | March 01, 2013
Fred Hersch's output as a composer includes an orchestrated setting of poems from Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass as well as other art-song fare for singers.

RAN BLAKE & DOMINIQUE EADE AT SCULLERS | March 01, 2013
Most virtuosos leave you scratching your head asking, "How did he play that?"

THIS SPRING'S JAZZ & WORLD MUSIC SHOWS | February 28, 2013
The saxophonist Chris Potter started drawing attention when he joined the group of legendary bebop trumpeter Red Rodney as an 18-year-old Manhattan School of Music student.