Just as he dominated every decade since World War II, Miles Davis has imposed himself on the 1990s with what seems to be a never-ending stream of reissues and tributes. The retro-Miles onslaught has included three elegant and lavishly produced retrospective sets already released by Columbia, not to mention various configurations of musicians in live configurations and in the studio riding coattails made manifest by the trumpeter’s death in 1991.

Now comes Jackson, Mississippi, native Cassandra Wilson, hot as can be from the critical and commercial successes of Blue Light ‘Til Dawn and New Moon Daughter, both jazz releases that mix folk sensibilities and I avant-garde syncopations with Wilson’s intimate, barbecue smoked contralto on decidedly eclectic programs of bop-styled folk blues, rock standards, and jazz ballads.

How does the Miles Davis legacy fare in the hands of this roots diva? To begin with, no clear resemblance of Miles emerges until halfway through the recording (on “Seven Steps,’ with it’s deliciously bebop “Salt Peanuts” reference). There is, in fact, not a trumpet note to be heard (except for fellow folk-jazzer Olu Dara sprinkling ‘a little coherent on the opening cut), and at least half the tunes here are Wilson compositions (more, if you count all the newly composed lyrics and aggressive reinterpretations). At first hearing, we may be disappointed, and tempted to dismiss this a fluffy valentine.

But put away those preconceptions, listen again, and what you will more likely hear is a fully realized and thematically coherent work in which Wilson’s ability to contain the wide-reaching vision of Miles Dewey Davis in an apparently simple, but transcendent, vision of her own clearly triumphs. Does this in any way diminish Wilson’s achievement? Consider the stature of the work that inspired her, and her ability to embrace it within a seamlessly’ sensuous conception becomes that much more impressive.

Producing herself for the first time, Cassandra Wilson now has established herself as entirely capable of making her own mark on the music in decades to come.