Eva Cassidy Nightbird 2015

Nightbird is the long overdue release of the entire night recorded at Blues Alley on January 3, 1996 that, edited, became the 1996 classic Live At Blues Alley, reviewed here.

Live At Blues Alley is indispensable for anyone interested in the jazz-pop light genre, and Cassidy's voice was a thing of nearly unparalleled beauty. Pitch-perfect, and with an astounding range and power, we can only speculate on her potential. But given the success of Diana Krall and Norah Jones, it is hard to believe that Eva Cassidy wouldn't have found fame in her time.

Her choice of material was all-encompassing, with songs from the great American jazz songbook, sixties soul, folk, pop, rock and gospel. She could sing it all with her lovely phrasing and immaculate voice. And she was emotionally invested in every song.

But the question now is whether you need to own this new, two-CD, 33-track expanded version of the performance that gave us Live At Blues Alley. Most of the 33 songs here have been released previously. There are only eight that have never been heard, although some of the others were released in re-recorded form over Eva's original vocal tracks. Quite a few of the songs have been released on one of the many posthumous releases since Cassidy's tragic death at age 33. Of the ones that have never seen the light of day, a few are a bit rough, and Cassidy drops a lyric on a couple of them. But overall, the quality is very fine. There could have been a Live At Blues Alley Part Two that would have been every bit the original's equal. And that is pretty much your answer.

I suppose if you own all of her posthumous recordings, you've already purchased this one. If not, you'll have to buy it to get at those eight unreleased tracks. Maybe you love Blues Alley, and got tired of buying the mixed quality of the posthumous releases- they definitely progressed to weaker and weaker material and production with each "new" release. For you, I can also recommend this CD without reservation. It's not perfect, but the quality of the original release is certainly not tainted in any way by getting to hear the whole performance. Having all the songs in one place is nice, and most of the deserved accolades that the original received can be applied here with only rare exceptions.

It really is a shame that she died so young and full of potential. That we cannot ever hear what she might have produced is sad indeed. This should be the last of her offerings, and it should have been done sooner, but all that aside, it is one fine record for anyone that loved the original.