Belly of the Sun

Belly of the Sun
Studio album by Cassandra Wilson
Released	February 26, 2002
Recorded	Clarksdale, MS
Genre	Jazz
Length	60:09
Label	Blue Note
Producer	Cassandra Wilson
Cassandra Wilson chronology
Traveling Miles (1999) Belly of the Sun (2002) Glamoured (2003)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Rolling Stone	[2]
All About Jazz	favorable[3]

Belly of the Sun is an album by American jazz singer Cassandra Wilson. It was released on the Blue Note label in 2002.^[4]

The title of the CD comes from a line in "Only a Dream in Rio" that Wilson had translated to Yoruba "... just to hear what it sounded like and it was explained [to Wilson] that in the Yoruba translation you would say 'in the belly of the sun.'"^[5]

India.Arie is a guest vocalist on "Just Another Parade".

Recording was done in the Clarksdale, Mississippi train station.^[5]

Track listing

1. "The Weight" (Robbie Robertson) – 6:05
2. "Justice" (Cassandra Wilson) – 5:27
3. "Darkness on the Delta" (Jay Livingston, Al J. Neiburg, Marty Symes) – 3:47
4. "Waters of March" (Antonio Carlos Jobim) – 4:26
5. "You Gotta Move" (Mississippi Fred McDowell) – 2:44
6. "Only a Dream in Rio" (James Taylor) – 4:32
7. "Just Another Parade" (Wilson) – 6:05
8. "Wichita Lineman" (Jimmy Webb) – 5:48
9. "Shelter from the Storm" (Bob Dylan) – 5:17
10. "Drunk as Cooter Brown" (Wilson) – 4:58
11. "Show Me a Love" (Jesse Robinson, Wilson) – 3:49
12. "Road So Clear" (Rhonda Richmond) – 5:22
13. "Hot Tamales" (Robert Johnson) – 1:43
14. "Corcovado" (Antonio Carlos Jobim)(For Japan only)

There was a promotional version of this album distributed before the album was released that contained 2 extra tracks that were not included on the final release. The promotional copy has "Rock Me Baby" (B. B. King) After "Shelter from the Storm" and before "Cooter Brown" and "Little Lion" (Caetano Veloso) after "Cooter Brown" and before "Show Me a Love". The promotional version was a regular pressed and silkscreened disc (not a CD-R) and came in a cardboard sleeve and had no album artwork.

Personnel

• Cassandra Wilson – vocals; surdo, guitar (6, 7)
• Marvin Sewell – guitars (1, 2, 6-14)
• Kevin Breit – mandolin, guitars, vocals, bouzouki, omnichord (1, 2, 5−10, 14)
• Mark Peterson – basses (1, 2, 6-12, 14)
• Jeffrey Haynes – percussion, plastic tub, steel pans (1, 2, 5-8, 10-14)
• Cyro Baptista – percussion, vocals (1, 2, 5-12, 14)
• Xavyon Jamison – drums (1, 2, 6, 11, 12)

Guest artists

• "Boogaloo" Ames – piano (3)
• Children of M.S.44 (NYC) – vocals (4)
• Rhonda Richmond – vocals, piano (5, 7, 12)
• Richard Johnston – guitar, vocals (5)
• Jewell Bass, Vasti Jackson, Patrice Moncell, Henry Rhodes – vocals (6)
• India.Arie – vocals (7)
• Jesse Robinson – electric guitar (11)
• Olu Dara – trumpet (12)

Chart positions

Year	Chart	Position
2002	Billboard Top Jazz Albums	2
	Billboard Heatseekers	4
	Billboard The Billboard 200	155
	Billboard Top Internet Albums	156

References

1. Allmusic review Actually 3,5 stars
2. Rolling Stone review
3. All About Jazz review
4. Allmusic review
5. Hamilton, Rhonda. All About Jazz. Cassandra Wilson. January 31, 2004. Retrieved December 2009.