She is wonderful, and an excellent pianist. In both my personal taste, and professional experience in demonstrating very high-end audio systems to my clients and seeing their reactions to my music choices, Eva Cassidy is in a league above even Diana. I recommended her to Miss Margo, and she thanked me enthusiastically. While Diana is an excellent jazz artist, of whom we cannot have too many, Eva sang jazz, folk, rock, pop, country, Motown, Gospel, and not just sing it, but SING it better than any of it had been sung before. She took her best-known song, Somewhere Over The Rainbow, right away from Judy Garland, and that’s hard to do. She made Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie’s rendition of Songbird sound like it’d been phoned in. She took Sting’s little throw-away, pleasant pop tune Fields Of Gold and turned it into a hymn. Three years ago, Amazon published a list of the top-selling musical artists on their site. Number one was The Beatles, number two was U-2, number three was Nora Jones, number four was Diana Krall, and number five was Eva Cassidy. Not Sinatra, not Cher, not The Rolling Stones, not Streisand, sure as Hell not Adele, not Bowie. Eva Cassidy. You can find her music online. Her albums Eva Cassidy Live at Blues Alley and Songbird are good places to start; also, her rendition of the Gospel song, How Can I Keep From Singing? I hope you enjoy Eva, Catbookss. I enjoyed writing this for you!
PS For an introduction to Nora Jones, I recommend her album, Come Away With Me. Fun fact: her father was Ravi Shankar, the sitar player made famous by The Beatles.
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Catbookss (13664)
6 years ago
Next I'm going to look up Eva Cassidy's rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow, then Songbird. (BTW, I'm not a fan of Fleetwood Mac, perhaps because I haven't heard them pre-Stevie Nicks.)
Thanks for the recommendations, R_K :)
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R_Kane (15828)
6 years ago
The Fleetwood Mac band before they added female vocalists and went mellow (which I enjoy and have many of their albums) was a very different animal, a down and dirty blues band with a very gifted lead guitarist, Peter Greene, who became a born-again Christian, left Mac, and made Christian music, a move that I, who bask in the light of The Lord, will never criticize! I recommend their albums Then Play On, Bare Trees and Kiln House.
And you are most welcome.
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Catbookss (13664)
6 years ago
Wow. That was great. Beautiful voice.
Interesting phrasing on Over the Rainbow.
Then Songbird autoplayed, and I didn't know that's what it was. I'd gone outside, opening the 100-year-old barn doors of my new place so I could sit outside and listen. Ended up melting into a chair, listening, looking up at the starry night sky and gently smiling, until it was over.
What a memorable experience.
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Catbookss (13664)
6 years ago
It's 15 minutes later, and I'm still feeling the effects of her Songbird. I feel like I've been in a hot tub.
I owe you for this one!
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R_Kane (15828)
6 years ago
I have often said that Frank Sinatra had phrasing that was light-years ahead of every other singer—except for Eva Cassidy, who was only steps beyond Old Blue Eyes, if that. Had she not died in her 30s, what would she have achieved? I know for a fact that she would have surpassed Francis Albert. Wow, that’s a pretty staggering thought, isn’t it? I am so happy that you appreciated Eva’s phrasing.
You owe me nothing, my friend. Your joy is my reward. I loved your description of your al fresco listening adventure. I love spreading the word about Eva Cassidy. I feel His pleasure when I do that. I had an Eva compilation playing in the background, once, when I was helping a family. The compilation was programmed to play Over The Rainbow immediately after How Can I Keep From Singing?. When The Rainbow track came on, the mother of the family smiled and asked me, “Is this Christian music?” I replied, “It is when she sings it, yes.”
I am so happy to share Eva with you, and with anyone else.
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