Faces to Watch in ’96 : The Year’s in Their Hands : Well, maybe not just theirs (notice we don’t list Jim Carrey). But these artists and entertainers--some you know, some you don’t--are most likely to make some kind of splash in ’96. Ready? Everybody into the pool. : JAZZ : Cassandra Wilson

A gifted singer with a dark-toned voice and an unerring sense of rhythm, Cassandra Wilson, 40, has been highly regarded by musicians since her work in the early ‘80s with avant-garde jazz saxophonist Steve Coleman. Her breakthrough album, the 1994 Grammy-nominated “Blue Light ‘Til Dawn,” showcased her in a brilliant expansion of the familiar jazz repertoire.

“You have to find material that you can get inside of and occupy,” she says. “Not every piece can do that for you, and you cannot do that for every piece.”

Wilson’s next CD, “New Moon Daughter,” scheduled for release in March, takes her on another musical trip, beginning with the penetrating Billie Holiday-associated song “Strange Fruit” and progressing through Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon,” Hank Williams’ “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” such standards as “Skylark” as well as five originals.

Does Wilson’s roving eclecticism too often lead her outside the realm of jazz? It doesn’t really matter. She remains firmly rooted in jazz, and is on her way to becoming the most imaginative of the post-Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald female singers.