In one of the mostly forgotten days of 1994, I happened to be listening to the radio, and on the radio there happened to be a jazz vocalist I had never heard of, Cassandra Wilson. She was promoting a recent album, Blue Light 'til Dawn, that primarily contained covers of blues and rock tunes. When the show's host played one of those covers, Robert Johnson's "Come On in My Kitchen," I fell in love with her voice on the spot and began following it through the world of hiphop, jazz, and rock. She hums on the Roots' "Swept Away"; she soars on Wynton Marsalis's impressive failure "Blood on the Fields"; she breaks my heart on Neil Young's "Harvest Moon." Wilson is a great American. (Jazz Alley, 2033 Sixth Ave, 441-9729. 7:30 and 10 pm, $40, all ages.)