"She could sing anything --

folk, blues, pop, jazz, R&B, gospel -- and make it sound like it was the only music that mattered." Richard Harrington

Jazz to me was like mushrooms and seafood; I couldn't stomach them as a kid. I remember the first time I tasted a portobello as a twenty-something-year-old and couldn't believe a fungus could be so flavorful and meaty. It was a matter of maturity (my age) and preparation (thanks, Martha). A whole new gastronomic world opened up to me. I'm still waiting for my taste buds to warm up to seafood. And jazz, that often confusing mess of notes and rhythms, I could never wrap my soul around.

My coworker Melanie introduced me to Eva Cassidy four years ago when she popped in Songbird in the CD player at work. I have to admit, I wasn't totally smitten upon the first hearing, but the tamer songs sounded sort of folksy, which I could handle, and there was something about that voice that could instantaneously change timbre and slide from note to note so effortlessly that grabbed me. The more I listened, the more intrigued I became. Her voice drew me in.

A native to the DC metropolitan area, Eva never had ambition to sing center stage. She preferred backup vocal to lead singer and performed at local venues, including Blues Alley in Georgetown, but others recognized her talent and gave her the opportunity to record. Bone cancer took her life away when she was only 33, but she left us a small repository of brilliance.

I wish I would have been able to hear her sing in person. I have yet to visit Blues Alley and plunge myself into the jazz world, though it's on my list of things to do.

ABC's Nightline produce a brief segment on Eva's rise to posthumous fame. Eva's story is moving, and from the writings of those who knew and wrote about her, you can get a taste of the type of person she was. Listen to her signature song, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", recorded at Blues Alley. Close your eyes. Listen to it until the very end. You'll get a sense what Richard Harrington meant. Whatever she sang, she made it sound like it was the only music that mattered.

Thanks, Eva. You've opened a whole new musical world to me.