No one projects a more patient, down-to-earth attitude than singer Cesaria Evora of the Cape Verde islands. She remains unfazed by sell-out crowds in Paris and New York and will sit at a table puffing a cigarette while her band plays. Her irresistible voice is warm and woody, with a deeply buried throb that flows over words like perfume. Her song specialty is morna, a stately Cape Verdian form. Her new album makes an ideal introduction because it adds jaunty tempos and arrangements to Evora's customary sorrowful sway. Her pungent, conversational duet with jazz saxophonist James Carter is one for the ages.
