The jazz album Eva Cassidy didn’t want to make
Many listeners who hear Eva Cassidy sing wonder why she had so little success during her lifetime. Yet even back then, there were people who recognised her talent, such as the barman who muttered after one of her poorly attended gigs: ‘Truly, that was a voice from heaven.’
Here you’ll find additional audio and video footage: https://youtu.be/hJro-_FTcYU
Leading talent scouts from the music industry also noticed what Eva was capable of. Mick Fleetwood, who owned a club in Alexandria where Eva performed on several occasions, offered to help her find a record label. However, the Fleetwood Mac drummer didn’t have to go to much trouble to convince Blue Note president Bruce Lundvall of Eva’s musical abilities.
Lundvall dangled an attractive contract – any other singer would have swum across the ocean for it. Eva simply had to sign and could then head straight to the studio to record a jazz album. ‘Does it have to be just jazz?’ she asked. ‘Well, we are a jazz label,’ replied Lundvall, who could already see his little plan going up in smoke. Eva refused, saying: ‘I don’t want to limit myself to jazz; I also sing gospel, blues, folk and country.’ She didn’t like being pigeonholed. That’s why the powerful record boss travelled back to New York empty handed.
Bruce Lundvall
Thirty years later, Eva Cassidy’s jazz album will be released after all. Following the success of ‘I Can Only Be Me’ – on which the London Symphony Orchestra performed new arrangements that accompanied Eva’s voice – a jazz big band has been given the chance to try its hand at this too. The Australian-born British composer and musicologist Christopher Willis wrote the arrangements, which were recorded by a big band at Angel Studios in London. Apart from pianist Max Cooper III, no other musicians are mentioned in the press release.
Eva’s vocals have been extracted from recordings she made between 1987 and 1996 on stage at The King of France Tavern, Annapolis and Blues Alley, Georgetown and at the Golden Triangle studio. Over the coming period, tracks such as ‘Blue Skies’, ‘At Last’, ‘Honeysuckle Rose’, ‘You’ve Changed’, ‘Cheek To Cheek’, ‘Still Not Ready’ and ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’ will be released in dribs and drabs. The first track of the album Jazzed that we can listen to is ‘It Don’t Mean a Thing, If It Ain’t Got That Swing’, written by Duke Ellington (music) and Bubber Miley (lyrics).
It’s not that hard to conclude that if anyone had ‘swing’, it was Eva Cassidy. But the fans already knew that.
3 responses to “The jazz album Eva Cassidy didn’t want to make”
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I have been enjoying Eva’s music since 1999. Introduced to her by a Brit visiting Aspen. I cant wait for this album.
When will this jazz album be released?
Probably this Autumn