Eva Cassidy JAZZED Album to Feature New Christopher Willis Arrangements
Singer Max Cooper III joins Cassidy on a duet as part of the new collection's reworked tracklist.
Blix Street Records has curated a new thematic ten-song collection of Eva Cassidy recordings titled JAZZED, featuring new arrangements from award-winning composer Christopher Willis. The album arrives in stores on November 13 and is now available for pre-order at https://evacassidy.lnk.to/JAZZED.
It can be said that Eva Cassidy could sing the phone book. Her song choices ranged from conventional pop to R&B to blues to country to the classic American songbook. The breadth of genres that populate the finite recordings she made during her short lifetime explain why she could never be categorized as any one thing, and perhaps to her detriment, marketed to a mass audience in a way that would truly define her.
Since her passing at 33, Cassidy has stood out not only for her ethereal voice but for her incredible ability to re-imagine a well-known song and make it her personal property. Now Blix Street Records, the label that has curated the small catalogue of material she left behind into more than a dozen posthumous Eva Cassidy compilations, zeroes in on her penchant and acumen for delivering stellar jazz vocal performances with a new collection called JAZZED.
Aided by 21st century technology that allows for Cassidy's singular vocals to be backed by a combination of entirely new jazz band arrangements and re-mixed versions of her original band accompaniments, this new 10 song collection of familiar tunes is a bittersweet reminder of what might have been had Cassidy lived to fully explore her musical potential.
Eva's unique interpretive magic is evident throughout JAZZED. The collection opens with an infectious version of Duke Ellington's 'It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing),' performed with the sass of Ella Fitzgerald. It is available now as the first digital single from the new album.
https://evacassidy.lnk.to/DontMeanAThing
Irving Berlin's 'Blue Skies' follows, performed as a duet with 23-year-old singer Max Cooper III, a runner-up on Season 28 of NBC-TV's The Voice. Both of these tracks are reimagined with new jazz band arrangements created by award-winning composer/arranger Christopher Willis (Veep, Schmigadoon!, Death of Stalin, The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse). Cassidy's return to the Etta James' classic 'At Last' and The Irving Berlin jazz standard 'Cheek to Cheek' are also backed by new arrangements from Willis, all of which masterfully draw upon the most exciting qualities of Nelson Riddle and Billy May before him.
For JAZZED's renditions of 'You've Changed' and Bill Withers' 'Ain't No Sunshine,' Willis evokes the emotional depth of a Gordon Jenkins for arrangements realized through performances from the London Symphony Orchestra. Rounding out the track list is the evocative 'Summertime' from Porgy and Bess, 'Honeysuckle Rose,' Harold Arlen's 'Blues in the Night' and 'Still Not Ready.'
Cassidy's crystalline voice is front and center throughout the album, with her vocal parts painstakingly enhanced using audio restoration technology to reveal previously unheard levels of clarity and depth. The process allowed for splitting the original mono tracks, many of them recorded at live shows, into their separate vocal and instrumental parts to reveal now pristine vocals.
Eva Cassidy has sold more than 12 million albums since her untimely passing from melanoma in 1996. She left behind a small catalogue of recorded material defined by her wide-ranging musical tastes and vocal prowess, much of it centered on her self-financed first album, LIVE AT BLUES ALLEY. The audio and video recordings captured that night would prove to be the foundation of Eva Cassidy's posthumous superstardom. Her versions of iconic songs have made their way into myriad films and television programs as well as advertising campaigns, and artists ranging from Paul McCartney to Ozzy Osbourne to Adele have been quoted citing her as an influence and inspiration.
The Essence of Eva, a new 82-minute Eva Cassidy documentary directed by Irish documentary makers Matthew Willis and Alex Fegan, just had its U.S. television premiere on WETA-TV, Washington, DC's flagship PBS station. Winner of the Audience Award in Portraits at the 2025 Vancouver International Film Festival, winner of the Audience Award, Best Documentary at the 2026 Washington DC International Film Festival and nominated for an IFTA Award for Best Documentary of 2026, the film features unheard songs and exclusive archival footage. The Essence of Eva is a portrait of the singer from the perspective of those who knew her best: her parents, family and friends.
Now JAZZED takes its place in Eva Cassidy's continuing saga and legacy. Transcending era, style and fashion, JAZZED is a timeless celebration of 20th century American songwriting, arranging and vocal artistry.
Tracklist
It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)
Blue Skies (duet with Max Cooper III)
Summertime
At Last
Honeysuckle Rose
Blues in the Night
Still Not Ready
You've Changed
Cheek to Cheek
Ain't No Sunshine
