Eva Cassidy Sings – DVD
Blix Street Records
By Johan Bakker
Eva Cassidy demanded a lot from herself and she refused a recordcontract with Blue Note. Recordings that she made, circulated in small circles after her death. The way in which she made well-known songs her own, drew the attention, though.
The cd Songbird with heartbreakingly beautiful songs, was released in 2001 and became a huge succes all over the world. New tapes came from all nooks and crannies and seven more albums saw the light from that moment on. Everyone thought that the source had been dried out, but these days a dvd appeared in the musicshops with a performance of Eva Cassidy in a bluesclub in Maryland.
The quality of the images that contain hardly any colors isn’t marvellous. The camera drifts uncomfartably around. Still it is a crushing experience to see and hear Eva sing and play. The ‘homevideo’ character increases that effect. What a relief to see someone concentrating on making music in this period of fast videoclips. Eva Cassidy restrains herself during the singing of her jazz, blues and gospel if you compare it with her studio-recordings. Without echoes and aiming at effect she sounds less polished and thus better. Eva plays the guitar herself and her fourmenband accompanies subserviently and effectively. ‘Cheek to Cheek’ ‘People Get ready’, ‘Over The Rainbow’: almost every song that Eva sings contains goosebump-moments. The concert was recorded at January 3rd 1996. A year later she wasn’t among us any longer.