Cassandra Wilson - The Discography - The Audiophile Reviews

[audioguy3107]

Finally! As we move into the "Cs"m we've reached an artist alphabetically that actually falls into the broad "audiophile recording" category! After a bunch of mostly subpar (sonically) recordings, let's hear what's in store on jazz artist's Cassandra Wilson's album Blue Light 'Til Dawn. If you're not familiar with her, she's got a very smokey, jazz club style voice who incorporates blues, folk and rock into her work and who has also won a couple of Grammy Awards, one in 1997 and one in 2009. Blue Light 'Til Dawn is not her debut album, she released several albums in the 1980's; the reason I'm starting here is this the first album of hers that had a bit of commercial success and that you may hear at various audio shows and shops. I really don't know how many Cassandra Wilson fans are out there, so give me some feedback on this review if (or if not) familiar with this album or others! So how does it sound? I'll turn to the standard 44.1 CD for this review so lets see what it offers.

Cassandra Wilson - Blue Light 'Til Dawn, 1993, Blue Note Records
Review version - 1993 Red Book CD, mastered by Wally Traugott @ Capitol Records




From Wikipedia: Rolling Stone reviewer John Milward gave the album three and a half stars out of five. He praised Wilson's choice of blues tracks by Robert Johnson and guitarist Brandon Ross' arrangements. He also liked Wilson's title track, but was less fond of her interpretations of Joni Mitchell's "Black Crow" or Ann Peebles' "I Can't Stand the Rain". Ron Wynn of Allmusic gave the album a rating of five stars out of five. In contrast to Milward, he enjoyed Wilson's "piercing version" of "I Can't Stand the Rain". A reviewer for Gramophone called it "more spacious and flexible" than her previous albums, praising the musical juxtapositions and describing Wilson's voice as strong and sensuous. They cited "Come on in My Kitchen" and "I Can't Stand the Rain" as highlights, but did not enjoy her versions of "Black Crow" or "Hellhound on My Trail". A reviewer of Dusty Groove added "A beautiful early album from Cassandra Wilson – a singer who already had a really deep sound, right at the start – and definitely hit her stride with music like this! The album mixes jazzy currents with rootsier elements – some of them from a more global perspective – and the production is nicely understated, so that Wilson's strongly in the lead throughout".

Here's a short review from Jazz Times: https://jazztimes.com/reviews/albums...ight-til-dawn/

1. You Don't Know What Love Is [DEMO] - This is more like it!!! This song starts with acoustic guitar over on the left...just to the inside of left speaker. Wilson's voice is extremely dynamic with a great sense of air against a jet black background. the timbre of the guitar strings is excellent and you can hear every single pluck and squeak. Halfway through the track, Charlie Burnham's violin comes in front and center, it sounds like he's playing right in your room. Please play this song and turn it up, but beware, one second Wilson is almost at a whisper but next she's much louder. Excellent first track and an excellent female vocal demo.

2. Come On In My Kitchen [DEMO] - Awesome Robert Johnson song......Classic audiophile demo here. Listen for the kick drum that starts the song halfway between the left loudspeaker and the counterpoint. Wilson's voice is a bit more powerful on this song but still has the same great dynamics as in the first song. The bass guitar and kickdrum really fill the room with low deep bass...but it's not flabby or boomy whatsoever, it should be deep, clean and you should hear each and every note. This song will get the subwoofers going....but what I really like about it is that there is no bloat, each bass note is clean, clear and fast.....a great bass demo if you're looking for tight bass that doesn't plumb the depths.

3. Tell Me You'll Wait For Me - Wilson's voice sound huge on this song. I don't think it sounds quite as clean as on the first two tracks but nevertheless you'll hear her big dynamic voice on this song as well, but not quite as good of a demo track as the first two.

4. Children Of The Night [DEMO] - There's a lot going on here to open this track......percussion, classical guitar and background vocal sound effects. Cassandra's vocal may be a bit drier on this song but there's so much else to hear here. If your system is resolving enough, you should hear vocal sound effects and breath sounds coming out of the right channel behind the musical instruments......the classical guitar is over in the right channel as well. This is a much more complicated mix, a good test of how well your system images and places sounds and instruments in space; you should hear some layering of sounds mostly in the right channel on this track.

5. Hellhound On My Trail [DEMO] - Another song that begins with acoustic guitar as the highlight. This is probably the best example so far of Cassandra Wilson's voice...it sounds smooth powerful if not a little dry which is what her voice sounds like. As she sings throughout the song, the guitar that accompanies here is live and immediate, close your eyes and Brandon Ross' steel string guitar is right in front of you. this is probably the most realistic lifelike guitar I've hear so far on any of the albums reviewed so far.

6. Black Crow [DEMO] - Another excellent demo track (Joni Mitchell cover) that highlights various sounds ranging from conga drums to clarinet. A few things to listen for here....listen for the lower drum registers over in the left side of the soundstage...it should reach WELL outside the speaker, not quite as much as one of those Q sound recordings, but it reminds me of that. The clarinet sound amazingly lifelike and should be located on the right side of the soundstage but INSIDE the right speaker. This is a really good song to test some imaging. You also have some "bird" sounds (I guess) that come from the background over in the left channel. Almost too much to even describe going on here but a really cool demo.

7. Sankofa [DEMO] - Now we've got a sort of acapella vocal performance with no instruments, just voices. You should hear THREE different singers perfectly clearly here. Wilson and a male voice in the middle with a third female vocal at a higher register slightly off to the right. Really cool vocal demo here.

8, Estrellas - Percussion, percussion, percussion! Interesting sound effects here with the conga over on the right and other things going on over in the left channel. Man these drums sound about as realistic as it gets.

9. Redbone [DEMO] - This is simply an amazing sounding track, it begins fading in from the last song with the conga over on the right, maracas in the background behind Wilson's voice and other interesting percussion reaching way out over in the left channel, way beyond the boundaries of the loudspeaker. A sparse guitar also comes in in the center. This is a STELLAR song to test imaging, you can clearly hear each and everything placed precisely in the soundstage, turn up the volume and the percussion will startle you if you're not paying close attention. Almost too much going on here to list, but if you want a good percussion track that highlights soundstage placement, this is gonna be a fun song.

10. Tupelo Honey [DEMO] - Iconic Van Morrison song which is one of my favorites...how does it sound? Amazing. I prefer the Van Morrison version of course, but she does a nice job here. Wilson's voice is very subtle (but big) with a good bit of air, drums as well which here are behind her in the middle of the soundstage. The violin makes another appearance here as well.

12. I Can't Stand The Rain [DEMO] - Another excellent vocal demo here, her voice is so dynamic on this song. This song has an almost country feel to the guitar over in the right channel, but the true highlight here is Wilson's voice over a very soft beat that you can subtly hear in the background.

I'd love to see some comments from members about this album, whether it's the CD or a stream, this is obviously the first true audiophile album I've reviewed sine I've stated this project. I haven't listened to this album in awhile but it really does the system justice. The engineers did an excellent job with this recording, capturing the various interesting sounds and of course Cassandra Wilson's voice. What makes this album fun is there is so much variety and interesting things to listen for rather than the usual female vocal recording as good as they may be. Highlights here really include percussion and imaging but you'll have to listen for yourself to enjoy the nature of this recording. I'd look forward to having a couple of these songs played on some of the systems at AXPONA or RMAF, especially "Black Crow". Highly recommended!

Audiophile Rating: 8/10 (overall sonics)
Demo Rating: 75% 9/12 (number of cool demo tracks/tracks on album)