This 2-CD album was released in 2015 and includes much more of the original Blues Alley material: 32 tracks, including 8 unreleased songs. The UK edition contains a DVD as well. NIGHTBIRD is also available on four vinyl LPs.
In the United Kingdom, where Eva has long been a popular artist, the album opened at #17 on the album charts.
The album covers have different designs, as you can see. The gray version is UK, the blue is North America.
CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE: Just a reminder to everyone that the wonderful photos of Eva outside Blues Alley were taken by her friend Larry Melton, and that the priceless videos of Eva performing inside the club were taken by her friend Bryan McCulley. Millions of Eva Cassidy fans thank you, guys! A little more information about Bryan’s videos can be found here.
Bill Straw of Blix Street Records wrote the following notes to accompany the release of NIGHTBIRD:
One Night, One Take – January 3, 1996. In short, Eva Cassidy was a full- grown master musician before she set foot on the Blues Alley stage. I will never forget the first time I heard the original Live At Blues Alley album. Blix Street artiste Grace Griffith had sent me a tape copy cued up to ‘Fields Of Gold,’ with a fore-warning that, ‘We have this wonderful nightingale I’m afraid we’re going to lose.’ A couple of seconds into Eva’s vocal entrance I knew she was extraordinary. By the time I finished listening to the whole album I had heard one of the best singers, ever…but I am getting ahead of the story.
At the dawn of 1996, Eva Cassidy was an obscure singer who had been toiling for years in her native Washington, DC…obscure, but by no means unaccomplished. How anyone so accomplished…could have remained so obscure…for so long…is a question for the music business gatekeepers of the day.
Eva started with a strong, clear, pliable vocal instrument that transcended musical categories…coupled with a musical aptitude that embraced the classic recordings that resided in her father’s large vinyl record collection.
While her friends were pre-occupied with radio hits, Eva steeped herself in the music of Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald, Pete Seeger, Roberta Flack (to name a few) and other legacy and contemporary artists and songs that stimulated her high musical IQ. When an artist she loved came to town, Eva was in the front row. She had lately been taken with the music of Grace Griffith, a DC Celtic/folk artist who had been winning ‘Wammies’ awarded by WAMA, the Washington Music Area Association.
Along the way Eva absorbed the emotion behind every note. The net result was a technically stunning singer who literally inhabited the gospel, blues, jazz and folk roots that underpin most popular music…with an emotional depth that enabled her to breathe truth across the full musical spectrum. The bonus was impeccable taste that extended musical boundaries without overstepping.
However accomplished, Eva’s extreme gifts had proved to be too much for major record labels. They either couldn’t believe their ears, or imagine audiences who could. Frustrated with having her musical sophistication mistaken for weakness, Eva took matters into her own hands.
She cashed in a small pension from her day-gig at a local nursery to fund a live recording with the Eva Cassidy Band [Lenny Williams (piano), Chris Biondo (bass), Keith Grimes (guitar) and Raice McLeod (drums).] The Blues Alley jazz club in nearby Georgetown was booked for two nights during down time following the 1996 New Year’s festivities. A live recording truck and crew were contracted…and Eva’s friends and family turned up to witness musical history-in-the-making on the first Tuesday and Wednesday nights of 1996.
By the second night their backs were against the wall, because everything recorded the previous evening had been lost in the smoke of technical difficulties. Nobody imagined that the night of January 3, 1996 would be the high point of Eva Cassidy’s tragically short career as a performer…and the beginning of her career as a recording artist; but the recordings captured that night proved to be the foundation of Eva Cassidy’s unparalleled posthumous international success.
Within 10 months of Blues Alley Eva was gone, having been diagnosed with melanoma by mid-year. A scant three weeks after her passing, WAMA honored Eva and Live At Blues Alley with nine WAMMIES, including the 1996 Artist and Album of the Year, and Best Female Vocalist in four separate musical categories. They also inducted Eva Cassidy into the WAMA Hall of Fame, which was, according to the Washington Post, ‘a gesture inspired more by sentiment than by any fame garnered by the sadly under-noticed Cassidy.’
In hindsight, WAMA’s arguably sentimental gesture proved to be prescient…the evening of January 3, 1996 turned out to be the night that changed everything… Eva’s Live At Blues Alley album from that one night sparked Eva Cassidy’s musical legacy, which was destined to circle the globe.
Nightbird – 20 Years On. The 20th Anniversary of the Blues Alley performances was an upcoming music milestone. To commemorate the event with an appropriate album was obvious…what the album would contain, not immediately so.
Of the 31 songs recorded that night: 12 were included on the original Live At Blues Alley album; 7 other Blues Alley recordings had been used on other Eva Cassidy albums; leaving 12 previously unreleased Blues Alley recordings, which included 8 new songs.
The first question was whether the album should be a complete Blues Alley package or Live At Blues Alley: Vol. 2.
The second question was whether to exclude any of the previously unreleased tracks. We knew that Eva was her own toughest critic. Her first reaction upon hearing the original Blues Alley tapes had been to scrap the whole project. She had a cold that night, and didn’t feel any of the recordings were up to her standards.
Eva had spent her small pension to take her shot. Still, it was only after her ‘studio’ recording of ‘Oh, Had I A Golden Thread’ was added as a bonus track (also included in this package) that Eva reluctantly agreed to the release of the original Live At Blues Alley album. Looking back, Eva Cassidy’s musical legacy momentarily hung in the balance of her 1996 ‘to be, or not to be’ decision. Looking forward, we know there is more. The 7 Blues Alley tracks used on other Eva albums are as good or better than those that made it on to the original album, but some of the previously unreleased tracks had never even been ‘mixed-down’ from the original multi-track recordings. The next step was to mix the un-mixed recordings, assemble all 31 tracks and listen to the lot.
I have had the privilege of compiling eight Eva Cassidy albums, beginning with Songbird. In each instance, the luxury of Eva’s considerable catalogue, from various sources, served the basic premise that less is more. The daunting challenge of an album containing 31 tracks is the polar opposite…would more be less?
Fortunately, more turned out to be much more. The first listening to all 31 tracks in one sitting was an inspiring experience. Beginning at Capitol Records in the late 60’s, I had heard out-takes from the best of the best…but had never before heard anything that approached the sheer consistent vocal excellence of these 31 one-take, all on one night, performances. Hearing the ‘Full Monty’ also brought new appreciation of Eva’s Band and, specifically, the collective understanding of their respective roles in underscoring Eva’s musical genius across such a diverse musical landscape.
Nightbird, a super-album containing all 31 songs, affords everyone the opportunity to experience Eva Cassidy’s one night, one take tour de force. The couple of inevitable dropped lines actually enhance the overall effect…that what you are hearing really did happen…on the night of January 3, 1996.
Bill Straw, President Blix Street Records
11/23/15: UK REVIEWS OF NIGHTBIRD: The Hertfordshire Mercury calls the new album “a wonderful memory of that special night featuring an incredible artist.”
Joanna Davis of the Dorset Echo writes, It’s an immersive live experience that is sure to bring even more people to Cassidy’s superb – but so sadly – small body of work. The full (short) review is here.
Nick Cole of the Scunthorpe Telegraph gives the album 9 stars out of 10, describing it as Some great laid-back, late night music from the late Eva.
12/10/15: Some customer quotes from Amazon.co.uk:
- “A common fantasy exercise is to imagine where would one choose to go with a time machine. I can tell you where I would go on January 3, 1996!!!”
- “This is her “At Folsom Prison” moment.”
- For me, this album completes the Eva story. Highly recommended.
US REVIEWS OF NIGHTBIRD:
Wayne Bledsoe of the Knoxville News Sentinel reviews NIGHTBIRD and says, “Hearing this album can’t help but make you a little sad imagining just how much great music Cassidy could’ve made. Still, hearing this music made 20 years ago on this date feels like a gift.” Here’s the link. Nice review.
REVIEWER: “Without a doubt my highest recommendation ever!” I just love it when someone is so excited about Eva’s music that he simply bubbles with joy. Dennis Russo writes on the Critical Blast web site, “One of the joys in getting to review music is getting to listen to someone you’ve never heard of before and after listening to them you realized you missed something special for a long time. Such is the case for Eva Cassidy. I had never heard of Eva or her music prior to listing to the NIGHTBIRD 2CD set I am reviewing here. I could forgive myself for not hearing of it if Eva was someone relatively new on the scene. That is not the case here, so I could kick myself in the pants for not having heard of her sooner and been listening to her music all this time!” Also “From start to finish I enjoyed every song she sang. Asking me to pick a favorite would be like asking a parent who their favorite child is.”
Critic Bill Bentley writes, on the popular culture website “The Morton Report,” “Cassidy’s voice is so full of life and love it’s almost impossible to think she didn’t live long to see her success. The fact that she went on to sell over 10 million copies of her music and had three releases reach #1 on the UK charts is like a fairytale, no matter what. To hear a night of one woman’s soaring beginnings, start right here.”
In Elmore Magazine, critic Jason Kwan comments, “One aspect of Cassidy’s vocal style which always gives me shivers is her ability to seamlessly soar between her head voice and her falsetto, utilizing her entire vocal palette to paint her performances.”
NIGHTBIRD reviews in French:
Le Populaire magazine reviews NIGHTBIRD here. With the help of Google Translate, I can tell you that the review is favorable, the headline calls her the “shooting star of jazz,” and says that Eva has “become legendary in the Anglo-Saxon world.”
Reviewer Thierry Gandillot of Les Echos marks the new album as “DO NOT MISS!” The headline says “An Angel in Washington DC.” My favorite quote (translation by Google)” “‘Cheek to Cheek’ begins, we remember, with these words: ‘Heaven, I’m in Heaven …’ Eva is in heaven, and we are thrilled.”
This is from the website of La Croix, which, according to Wikipedia, is a “daily French general-interest Roman Catholic newspaper.” Thanks to my talented friend Sallie, I am able to provide a better translation than the usual Google Translate variety. Here’s an excerpt:
In France, still very few people know the story of this shy singer with a blazing talent and a relentless perfectionism, who preferred to go on a bike ride than to chase celebrity at any price.
Today, many people wonder how such a talent could elude the labels. Approached by several of them, the young woman changed courses. Pop, rock, jazz, blues, soul? Her voice, a trickle of pure water or a powerful torrent, was continuously changing. She chose songs for their personal resonance and refused to have her choices dictated to her. Not “marketable” enough.
…As of today, Eva Cassidy has sold more than ten million albums worldwide. And on the site dedicated to her memory, many come to tell how that voice grabbed them while in their car or in a store—making them stop in their tracks.
The double CD Nightbird, released on 5 February, brings together all the songs from that night on 3 January 1996, enhanced with a DVD of the recording, where the young blond woman’s magnetism shows through. In a “Stormy Monday” with bluesy overtones, the sweet lament of “Autumn Leaves,” or the stripped-down reinterpretation of “Over the Rainbow,” she reveals not only a beautiful voice, but also a beautiful soul.
UK Television Ad for NIGHTBIRD:
Here is the link to see it on YouTube.
NIGHTBIRD GOES GOLD! Bill Straw of Blix Street Records recently confirmed for me, and gave me permission to announce, that the NIGHTBIRD album has earned a Gold Record in the United Kingdom. Congratulations to all concerned! (I don’t know when this took place, but it was probably 2016.)
