"Nancy Wilson, whose skilled and flexible approach to singing provided a key bridge between the sophisticated jazz-pop vocalists of the 1950s and the powerhouse pop-soul singers of the 1960s and ’70s, died on Thursday at her home in Pioneertown, Calif. She was 81.
Her death was confirmed by her manager, Devra Hall Levy, who said Ms. Wilson had been ill for some time but gave no other details.
In her long and celebrated career, Ms. Wilson performed American standards, jazz ballads, Broadway show tunes, R&B torch songs and middle-of-the-road pop pieces, all delivered with a heightened sense of a song’s narrative.
“I have a gift for telling stories, making them seem larger than life,” she told The Los Angeles Times in 1993. “I love the vignette, the plays within the song.”…..New York Times today.
I liked her a lot, maybe at a remove from being a "purely" jazz singer, but she made a fine 1960s album with Cannonball Adderley's quintet, and it was Adderley who did a lot to push her early career. She was also a good friend to Francis Taylor, Miles Davis's wife, and gave her needed sanctuary. Nancy was married for a few years to Kenny Dennis, the drummer...early Bill Evans, Sonny Stitt etc.
RIP.
Her death was confirmed by her manager, Devra Hall Levy, who said Ms. Wilson had been ill for some time but gave no other details.
In her long and celebrated career, Ms. Wilson performed American standards, jazz ballads, Broadway show tunes, R&B torch songs and middle-of-the-road pop pieces, all delivered with a heightened sense of a song’s narrative.
“I have a gift for telling stories, making them seem larger than life,” she told The Los Angeles Times in 1993. “I love the vignette, the plays within the song.”…..New York Times today.
I liked her a lot, maybe at a remove from being a "purely" jazz singer, but she made a fine 1960s album with Cannonball Adderley's quintet, and it was Adderley who did a lot to push her early career. She was also a good friend to Francis Taylor, Miles Davis's wife, and gave her needed sanctuary. Nancy was married for a few years to Kenny Dennis, the drummer...early Bill Evans, Sonny Stitt etc.
RIP.
plus a bit of 
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