Cassandra Wilson

[Aggie87]

I'm excited to be seeing Cassandra Wilson live tomorrow night, here in Stuttgart. Haven't seen her before, but she's probably my favorite contemporary vocalist. Has anybody else seen her on this current tour, or recently, and if so, how was it? I'm not sure who's in her touring group presently either.

She's the headliner tomorrow night on a vocal triple bill, with Jane Monheit and Stacy Kent. I've also not seen either of these artists live, so I'm looking forward to the show.

Oh, and Candy Dulfer is playing here on Sunday, but I think I'll be passing on that one

[kh1958]

I haven't seen her recently, but I've seen her live twice (the first about the time of Blue Moon Daughter) and she was an outstanding live performer and had a very fine group on both occasions.

[Aggie87]

The show was fantastic!

Stacey Kent opened, and played a nice set with her regular band, including her husband Jim Tomlinson on sax, David Newton on piano, and Colin Oxley on guitar. I didn't catch the bass player's name. No drummer to be found. Her set was a mostly standards, elegantly played. She has a great voice, and seemed to be having a good time on stage.

Next up was Jane Monheit. She came out with Joel Frahm on sax, Michael Kanan on piano, Joe Martin on bass, and her hubby Rick Montalbano on drums. She looked quite nice, and had a great voice. She sang a mix of standards and Brazilian music, including a cover of "Girl from Ipanema". But she distanced herself from the audience, and to be honest, seemed a little "full" of herself. She was also the only act who didn't receive flowers from the promoters at the end of her set (perhaps something went down backstage prior to the show?).

Then came Cassandra Wilson. Her band included Jeff Haynes on percussion, a guitarist and a harmonica player, both names I missed, and Lonnie Plaxico on bass. Plaxico surprised me, because the pre-show advertising said that Reginald Veal was touring with her. At any rate, it was a fantastic group! They played a wide variety of tunes, including a cover of "Lay Lady Lay". Cassandra was really into the performance, and whenever anyone was soloing, she just closed her eyes, and rocked along with them. Other covers included "Corcovado", and "Last Train to Clarksville". She also said her next album was coming out on October 7th, and played a tune from that called "Broken Drum". If it's any indication of the rest of the album, it should be another good'un.

I got to talk with Lonnie after the show, and he seemed very friendly. He said he also has a new album himself coming out soon, and pointed me towards his website, which I'll have to take a look at shortly. I also spoke with the harmonica player, and he said he would be on the new Wilson album. Unfortunately I missed out on getting to meet Cassandra after the show though. Their bus was leaving about an hour after the concert, heading down to the Montreux Jazz Festival, where she was playing on Saturday, so she didn't stick around very long.

All in all a great show. It was recorded for future television broadcast. The soundman told me that the company doing the recording sells their programs world-wide, so it was very possible it would be shown in the U.S. (PBS maybe?) at some point in time. If anyone happens to notice this one on TV in the U.S., I'd appreciate a heads-up, so I can get a relative to tape it for me.

Thanks,

Erik