Cassandra Wilson’s paradigm-shifting release from one score year ago, Blue Light ‘Til Dawn, still sounds fresh, exciting and invigorating on this remaster. Her earthy, lazy and back porch voice breathed fresh life into material back in 1994, ranging from Boomer folk/rock like Van Morrison’s “Tupelo Honey” and Joni Mitchell’s “Black Crow” to vintage blues from Robert Johnson. Her soulful take of the 70s R&B tune “I Can’t Stand the Rain” is simply riveting, and she purrs like a kitten on Charles Brown’s “Tell Me You’ll Wait For Me.” Even jazz standards feel new, as “You Don’t Know What Love Is” with Wilson, Brandon Ross on steel string guitar and Charlie Burnham with violin take you from the city streets to the rural Moose Lodge. A handful of bonus tracks are from the European tour that supported this watershed release, and has Wilson including a luminescent “Skylark” along with stretched out takes of “Tupelo” and “Crow.” Hey, the 90s weren’t bad after all!
Wilson is on tour re-visitng these classic tunes, so make sure you check it out.
Blue Note Records