''Live at Blues Alley'' is an

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

by American singer

Eva Cassidy Eva Marie Cassidy (February 2, 1963 – November 2, 1996) was an American singer and guitarist known for her interpretations of jazz, folk, and blues music, sung with a powerful, emotive soprano voice. In 1992, she released her first album ...

, originally self-released in May 1996. The album was recorded live at the

Blues Alley Blues Alley, founded in 1965, is a jazz nightclub in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Musicians who have performed at Blues Alley include John Abercrombie, Monty Alexander, Mose Allison, Tony Bennett, Rory Block, Ruby Braff, G ...

nightclub in January 1996. It was the last album recorded by Cassidy before her death in November 1996.

Recording details

Unable to interest a major label in recording her music, Cassidy cashed in a small pension she had accumulated while working at her day job in a plant nursery to self-fund this recording of herself and her live band, comprising Lenny Williams (piano), Keith Grimes (guitar), Chris Biondo (bass) and Raice McLeod (drums), with Cassidy herself supplying vocals and acoustic guitar. The Blues Alley venue was booked for two nights, January 2 and 3, 1996, however on the first night technical issues prevented the tapes being any use so all of the recorded material used originates from the second, Wednesday night's performance. Cassidy was suffering from a light cold through both shows and initially felt that the performances were not good enough to release, but eventually agreed after a previously completed studio take of "Oh, Had I a Golden Thread" was added to round out the package. This was Cassidy's last release in her lifetime, but the beginning of her posthumous rise to fame. She died of melanoma six months after it was released, ten months after it was recorded. Video recordings of a number of the same performances, virtually the sum of her recorded video legacy, were later released on DVD as ''Eva Cassidy Sings'', and again (with slightly different track selection) on the DVD portion of the 2-CD + 1-DVD 2015 compilation '' Nightbird'', of which the audio CDs include remixed versions of the songs from ''Live at Blues Alley'' as well as 19 additional tracks from the same concert, a subset of which had previously also been included on other posthumous Cassidy releases.

Music

''Live at Blues Alley'' serves as an example of Cassidy's eclectic tastes, covering classic and contemporary artists from

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop s ...

to Sting, including Al Green,

Pete Seeger Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer and social activist. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, Seeger also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of the Weavers, notably ...

Irving Berlin Irving Berlin (born Israel Beilin; yi, ישראל ביילין; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-American composer, songwriter and lyricist. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Born in Imperial Russ ...

and more. Her cover of "

Fields of Gold "Fields of Gold" is a song written and performed by English musician Sting. It first appeared on his fourth studio album, ''Ten Summoner's Tales'' (1993). The song was released as a single on 7 June 1993, reaching 16 on the UK Singles Chart an ...

" was a popular radio song and record companies used it to promote her material; in 2001

Michelle Kwan Michelle Wingshan Kwan (born July 7, 1980) is a retired competitive figure skater and diplomat serving as United States Ambassador to Belize. In figure skating Kwan is a two-time Olympic medalist (silver in 1998, bronze in 2002), a five-time ...

skated to the music of Eva's version of this song. "

What a Wonderful World "What a Wonderful World" is a song written by Bob Thiele (as "George Douglas") and George David Weiss. It was first recorded by Louis Armstrong and released in 1967 as a single. It topped the pop chart in the United Kingdom, but performed poor ...

", the last song she ever performed live, retains one of the rare introductions on the album that was not edited out, in which she dedicates the song to her parents. "Golden Thread", by Pete Seeger, was declared by Eva to be her favorite song in the album's liner notes and the song she felt had turned out the best on the album. It was not actually performed at Blues Alley but was recorded months earlier.

Reception

The album inspired attention from audiences outside of her local following in Washington D.C. Before and during the album's recording, Cassidy suffered many physical health problems, whose causes, at the time, were unknown. Three months after the album was released, she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Unfortunately, she died three months later without experiencing her burgeoning musical career. "Her posthumous success," writes William Cooper, "has been astonishing, with worldwide critical acclaim and extensive exposure on British television that helped her album ''Songbird'' climb to number one on the British album chart in March, 2001."

Track listing

Cheek to Cheek "Cheek to Cheek" is a song written by Irving Berlin in 1934–35, specifically for the star of his new musical, Fred Astaire. The movie was ''Top Hat'', co-starring Ginger Rogers.

" (

) – 4:03 #"

Stormy Monday "Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just as Bad)" (commonly referred to as "Stormy Monday") is a song written and recorded by American blues electric guitar pioneer T-Bone Walker. It is a slow twelve-bar blues performed in the West Coast blu ...

" (

T-Bone Walker Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker (May 28, 1910 – March 16, 1975) was an American blues musician, composer, songwriter and bandleader, who was a pioneer and innovator of the jump blues, West Coast blues, and electric blues sounds. In 2018 ''R ...

) – 5:49 #" Bridge over Troubled Water" ( Paul Simon) – 5:33 #"

Fine and Mellow "Fine and Mellow" is a jazz standard written by Billie Holiday, who first recorded it on April 20, 1939 on the Commodore label. It is a blues lamenting the bad treatment of a woman at the hands of "my man". Notable performances and recordings ...

" (

) – 4:03 #"

People Get Ready "People Get Ready" is a 1965 single by the Impressions, and the title track from the '' People Get Ready'' album. The single is the group's best-known hit, reaching number-three on the ''Billboard'' R&B chart and number 14 on the ''Billboard'' ...

" (

Curtis Mayfield Curtis Lee Mayfield (June 3, 1942 – December 26, 1999) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer, and one of the most influential musicians behind soul and politically conscious African-American music.

) – 3:36 #" Blue Skies" (Irving Berlin) – 2:37 #"Tall Trees in Georgia" (

Buffy St. Marie Buffy Sainte-Marie, (born Beverly Sainte-Marie, February 20, 1941) is an Indigenous Canadian-American (Piapot Cree Nation) singer-songwriter, musician, composer, visual artist, educator, pacifist, and social activist. While working in these are ...

) – 4:05 #"

" ( Sting) – 4:57 #" Autumn Leaves" (

Joseph Kosma Joseph Kosma (22 October 19057 August 1969) was a Hungarian-French composer. Biography Kosma was born József Kozma in Budapest, where his parents taught stenography and typing. He had a brother, Ákos. A maternal relative was the photographe ...

, Johnny Mercer,

Jacques Prévert Jacques Prévert (; 4 February 1900 – 11 April 1977) was a French poet and screenwriter. His poems became and remain popular in the French-speaking world, particularly in schools. His best-regarded films formed part of the poetic realist moveme ...

) – 4:57 #" Honeysuckle Rose" ( Andy Razaf,

Thomas "Fats" Waller Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller (May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, violinist, singer, and comedic entertainer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz pi ...

) – 3:14 #" Take Me to the River" ( Al Green, Mabon "Teenie" Hodges) – 3:51 #"

" (

Bob Thiele Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to: Places *Mount Bob, New York, United States *Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica People, fictional characters, and named animals * Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Bob (surname ...

George David Weiss George David Weiss (April 9, 1921 – August 23, 2010) was an American songwriter and arranger, who was a president of the Songwriters Guild of America. He is an inductee in the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Biography Weiss was born in a Jewish fa ...

) – 5:50 #"Oh, Had I a Golden Thread" (

) – 4:46 tudio recording/nowiki>

Chart positions

Personnel

*Eva Cassidy -

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

, acoustic guitar,

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...

*Chris Biondo - bass *Hilton Felton - Hammond organ *Keith Grimes - electric guitar *Raice McLeod - drums *Lenny Williams -

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

Production

*Producers: Eva Cassidy, Chris Biondo *Engineer: Roy Battle *Mastering: Robert Vosgien *Photography: Larry Melton *Artwork: Jeff Muller

References

{{Authority control Covers albums Eva Cassidy albums 1996 live albums