SONGBIRD

Personnel: Eva Cassidy (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Chris Biondo (guitar, drum programming); Keith Grimes (guitar); Dan Cassidy, Mike Stein (violin); Chris Walker (trumpet); Lenny Williams (piano); Kent Wood, Hilton Felton, John Gillespie (organ); Larry Melton (upright bass); Raice McLeod (drums). Arranger: Eva Cassidy. This posthumous anthology is the perfect introduction to the astonishing vocal talents of Eva Cassidy, a young, relatively unknown singer who died of cancer at 33, just as her career was beginning to gain steam. Cassidy, a native of Washington D.C., gained local favor with her pure, straightforward tone and her lovely, tasteful interpretations of everything from standards to gospel to contemporary pop. SONGBIRD is a definitive best-of selection that picks from Cassidy's studio albums and shows the depth and breadth of her skills. SONGBIRD's perfection as a compilation is in its song choice, which covers Cassidy's takes on gospel ("Oh, Had I A Golden Thread"), soul (Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready"), pop (Sting's "Fields of Gold"), and well-known standards ("Over the Rainbow"). Cassidy's own perfection stems from her ability to bring the same precise, inventive phrasing and crystalline tone to each individual song, regardless of genre, making it indelibly her own. This collection became a best-selling number-one album in the U.K., and with good reason.