JACKSON, Miss. – The Mississippi Blues Trail’s 100th marker has been named in honor of Grammy-Award winning jazz artist Cassandra Wilson, a Jackson native. The unveiling of the historic marker was held Thursday, Jan. 7 at Brinkley Middle School.
The Brinkley Eagle said she grew up across the street from the school. She has designated the marker to be placed in front of the school. Due to inclement whether, the unveiling ceremony was held in the school’s auditorium.
“This is the most beautiful plaque I’ve ever seen,” said Wilson, in awe, as the curtain was pulled to reveal the marker, which on one side displayed a depiction of her life from a little girl to the present. During her remarks, she told the crowd that Mississippi’s music has had an influence around the world. She says blues is the root of nearly all music forms from jazz to rock-n-roll.
Although categorized as jazz, her music spans many genres, including the blues. She received Grammy awards for her CDs, “New Moon Daughter” and “Loverly.”
A number of city and state officials, students, educators, friends, and other dignitaries were on hand for the unveiling ceremony. “In Mississippi, blues has a profound impact,” said Jackson Mayor Harvey Johnson. “I am especially pleased that the 100th marker is being dedicated to Cassandra Wilson,” he added.
Although not present at Thursday’s ceremony, Gov. Haley Barbour had this to say when he made the prior announcement about the marker: “There’s no question that the 100th marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail is a fitting tribute to one of the greatest voices in American arts. Cassandra Wilson’s collection blues, jazz standards and musical style sets her apart. She is truly one of Mississippi’s musical treasures.”
The Honorable Rep. Mary Coleman of the Mississippi House of Representatives and Senator John Horhn of the Mississippi State Senate presented Wilson with a congratulatory proclamation. Horhn grew up with Wilson. “When we were in the second grade, we would climb trees together,” he said. He said once he got a certain distance up the tree, he would try to figure out how to get back down. “Cassandra would still be climbing, and I would say, ‘Cassandra, you better come down,’ and she would yell and say, ‘I’m going to the top,’ and that’s exactly what she has done [in the music industry]: gone to the top,” Horhn said.
As a child in Jackson, Wilson studied both clarinet and piano and later learned to play the guitar. Her father, Herman Fowlkes, Jr., was an active jazz musician in the Jackson area, and in the 1950s appeared on recordings by Sonny Boy Williamson II for the Trumpet label. A native of the Chicago area, Fowlkes came to Mississippi as trumpeter in an Army band. He later graduated from Jackson State University and worked as a music instructor.
During her high school years Wilson performed in local funk, pop, and R&B bands, and began performing jazz after being encouraged by drummer Alvin Fielder, a member of the local Black Arts Music Society, and in 1982 moved to New York City, where she worked with the experimental jazz collective M-Base and began her recording career in the mid-‘80s.
Dorothy Moore, bluesman Bobby Rush, and a number of other Mississippi artists braved the cold, rainy weather in support of Wilson’s honor.
During a video presentation of Wilson’s life, she is noted as saying, “The most important thing about music is people get a chance to experience emotions.” No doubt many of her fans and friends present at the unveiling experience some emotion as well.
One of whom was longtime friend Elayne Hayes-Anthony, Ph.D. “She’s been involved in my life all of my life. Her mother and my mother were best friends,” Hayes-Anthony said. “Her dad was a musician and her mom was an educator, and I see them both in the gleam of her eyes today. They would be so proud. I feel their presence in this room.”
Pleased that Wilson chose her old neighborhood as the site for her blues marker, Hayes-Anthony said, “Cassandra Wilson is a tremendous talent and a tribute to the State of Mississippi.”
ABOUT THE MISSISSIPPI BLUES TRAIL
Mississippi is a destination for music lovers. Gov. Barbour created the Mississippi Blues Trail to recognize the talents of the state’s countless musicians in the Birthplace of America’s Music. When completed more than 100 sites will offer an unforgettable journey into Blues history.
The Mississippi Blues Trail markers are funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and by support from the Jackson Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Mississippi Department of Transportation, Delta State University and the Mississippi Development Authority. To submit information on the musicians, sites, and promoters honored by the Mississippi Blues Trail, contact: Jim O’Neal, Mississippi Blues Trail Research Director (816-931-0383, bluesoterica@aol.com).
For more information, visit the Mississippi Blues Trail on the web at msbluestrail.org or the official MDA/Tourism site visitmississippi.org. To contact the Mississippi Blues Trail office in Jackson, contact Alex Thomas (601-359-3297, athomas@mississippi.org) or Leigh Portwood (601-359-3061, lportwood@mississippi.org).
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Editor’s note: Released information from the Mississippi Development Authority also contributed to this article.
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