Cassandra Wilson, the celebrated jazz vocalist who won two Grammy Awards and earned the highest honor the federal government bestows on jazz musicians, has died at age 70 in her hometown of Jackson, Mississippi.

Wilson passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by family, close friends, and her manager, AP News reported. A statement released through her manager, Robert Torre, asked the public for patience and space.

"It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Cassandra Wilson, the Grammy Award-winning and legendary jazz artist. Cassandra Wilson transitioned peacefully at home, surrounded by family, close friends, and her manager."

Torre added that the family "respectfully ask for privacy during this difficult time as they grieve her loss," and that details on memorial services would be shared later. No cause of death has been disclosed.

Nineteen solo albums and a voice Time magazine called America's best

Wilson built one of the most decorated careers in modern jazz. She released 19 solo albums and appeared on dozens more alongside other artists. Her deep contralto voice and willingness to pull from folk, R&B, blues, and experimental music set her apart from vocalists who stayed inside traditional jazz lines.

In 2001, Time magazine dubbed her America's best singer, not best jazz singer, best singer, full stop. She opened for Miles Davis and toured with Wynton Marsalis during the 1980s and '90s, years when she established herself as one of the genre's major live acts.

Her Grammy wins bookended more than a decade of critical acclaim. She won Best Jazz Vocal Performance in 1997 for "New Moon Daughter" and took home Best Jazz Vocal Album in 2009 for "Loverly." Both records showed her range, rooted in the Mississippi Delta tradition her father taught her, but reaching well beyond it.

That father, the late Herman Fowlkes Jr., was a renowned guitarist, bassist, and music teacher in Jackson. Wilson grew up steeped in his musical world, and Mississippi never left her sound.

NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship crowned a lifetime of work in 2022

The honors kept coming late in Wilson's career. In 2020, Berklee College of Music in Boston awarded her an honorary doctorate in Music. Two years later, the National Endowment for the Arts gave her its Jazz Masters Fellowship, described as the highest honor the nation bestows on jazz artists.

Back home in Jackson, the city claimed her as its own. In 2023, organizers of the Hal's St. Paddy's Parade and Festival selected Wilson as Grand Marshal. Malcolm White, speaking at the time, put it simply.

"She is local and she is legendary."

Jackson Mayor John Horhn offered a tribute after her death, as Newsmax reported.

"Cassandra Wilson carried the sound, spirit and history of Mississippi with her wherever her music reached."

Fellow musicians remember a voice that reshaped what jazz could sound like

Jon Batiste, the Grammy-winning pianist and bandleader, spoke publicly about Wilson's influence on his own work.

"She had an unmistakable vocal tone, phrasing and her approach of weaving folkloric, R&B and diasporic music together with experimental and popular genres had a major impact on me."

That description, folkloric, experimental, popular, all woven together, captures what made Wilson difficult to categorize and impossible to ignore. She did not treat jazz as a museum piece. She treated it as a living tradition broad enough to absorb blues, country, and soul without losing its identity.

Wilson's death was first reported by the Mississippi Clarion Ledger. The family has not yet announced funeral arrangements.

In an era when American culture often forgets its own artists before they are gone, Cassandra Wilson earned every recognition her country had to give, and Jackson, Mississippi, never had to share the credit for raising her.