HOW MANY SINGERS EVOKE Egyptian pharaohs and Memphis blues in the same love song? At a concert a few months ago at St. Ann & Holy Trinity's Church in Brooklyn, New York, jazz singer Cassandra Wilson did just that. Standing center stage in the semidarkness, brushing back her honey-colored dreadlocks, her eyes half closed, she sang a song she wrote that, at first, seemed to be a smooth number about love and longing in Memphis, Tennessee, home of the Delta blues. "Oh won't you carry me back to Memphis," she sang, her limber contralto lingering on every line, caressing each note...
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