Eva Cassidy • Walkin' After Midnight
Walkin’ After Midnight is an immediate precursor to Nightbird, recorded November 2, 1995, at the historic (and now closed) King of France Tavern in Annapolis, Maryland, with only half of Cassidy's band to back her up. Missing were the keyboards and drums, leaving her with only bassist Chris Biondo and electric guitarist Keith Grimes. Undaunted, she recruited local symphonic violinist Bruno Nasta to sit in. The resulting quartet brought an upbeat Western-swing style to the music and rewarded the audience with a side of Eva Cassidy rarely heard. Walkin’ After Midnight introduces two new songs to Cassidy’s repertoire: “Down Home Blues” and “Desperado.” From the very first notes of Keith Grimes’s electric guitar on the album’s opener and title cut, you sense you’re in for a good time. Cassidy digs into the song with a loping yet confident air reminiscent of the legendary Patsy Cline. The tempo picks up a bit for “Blue Skies.” This Irving Berlin hit from the 1920s receives a bouncy, positive treatment here with Bruno Nasta’s fiddle and Grimes’s guitar providing tasty backup. They each solo, adding excitement to the performance. The next song, “Next Time You See Me,” gets down and dirty in a shuffle rhythm, with Cassidy belting out the lyrics and Grimes authoritatively plucking in the background. Things settle down on the next cut, a sensitive reading of George & Ira Gershwin’s “Summertime.” Ms. Cassidy then tackles the Fats Waller evergreen, “Honeysuckle Rose,” and, with tasteful support from her band, brings a new appreciation to this oft-played tune. It’s back to a swing tempo on Bobby Troup’s famous road song “Route 66.” Made popular by Nat King Cole in the 1950s, Cassidy adds her version to pop-music history. The somber Bill Withers song “Ain’t No Sunshine” gets a plaintive treatment. Cassidy's voice, the guitar and violin flow like quicksilver as the song’s story unfolds. “Fever,” a song made famous by Peggy Lee and Elvis Presley, gets a singular interpretation. Gone are the sensuality and sexual innuendo of the first two singers, here replaced by an assertive, in-your-face challenge. Electric guitar starts “Down Home Blues” with a vengeance, after which Cassidy comes in with a no-holds-barred vocal. She effectively shouts the lyrics to this one. Fueled by tasteful solos from Grimes and Nasta, everyone seems to be having a good time here. Cassidy’s take on “Wade In the Water” won’t be mistaken for the Ramsey Lewis 1960s hit. She returns the song to its spiritual roots, infusing it with jazz and blues overtones. Grimes’s plucky guitar intro returns the event to less solemn music-making as Cassidy sprints through another Irving Berlin song, “Cheek To Cheek.” You can almost see the smile on her face as she lets loose on the blissful lyrics. She gets down on “Won’t Be Long,” in the album’s funkiest, feistiest track. The album closes with a hybrid (vocal recorded live in 1994, instrumental back up recorded in studio in 2024) recording of one of the Eagles’s most beloved tunes, “Desperado.” I’m confident Glenn Frey and Don Henley had no idea their song would receive such a beautiful interpretation as the one here. The recording, direct from the PA feed to a DAT recorder, sounds rich and present, if slightly claustrophobic. The bass, however, is shrouded in fog. It's lacking in articulation and impact, so you strain to hear it on many of the songs. Also, the absence of audience applause, for a live recording, is surprising. That being said, the mastering by Robert Vosgien and pressing from Optimal Media are fine. This is a notable album by a remarkable singer. We are
lucky to be able to witness her intimate performance, caught on tape before a live
audience in a historic stone-walled tavern, before she succumbed to cancer just a year
later. |
y
introduction to the late Eva Cassidy was with her album Nightbird, recorded in
January 1996 at Washington DC’s venerable Blues Alley supper club. Cassidy's
pristine, pitch-perfect and emotive voice is easy on the ears, and she carries the tune as
well as any female vocalist I’ve heard. Nightbird has seen steady rotation
on my turntable ever since I purchased it four years ago. I am captivated as each of the
four records transports me back to that night nearly thirty years ago.