Live at Blues Alley

Eva Cassidy was born in Maryland in 1963 and died from melanoma in 1996, aged only thirty-three. Her name was not widely known during her lifetime, but the posthumous collection Songbird brought her extraordinary recognition in Britain. Later compilations carried her singing to an audience far larger than she had ever reached herself.

In 1986, she visited engineer Chris Biondo’s Washington, D.C. studio to sing on a friend’s demo. He recognised her gift, and she began working in the area. Through Biondo, whose background included go-go music, she made recordings with Chuck Brown.

This self-produced debut captures performances at Blues Alley in Washington on 2 and 3 January 1996, with one studio recording added. All fourteen songs are covers, ranging across jazz standards, blues, R&B, folk and rock. Her powerful, supple and transparent voice holds those different traditions together with astonishing naturalness.