Jeff Buckley — Keeping the Music Alive
A rare talent graced with an unusual gift
I discovered Jeff Buckley around the time of his death in the spring of 1997. Right away he captivated me. His only studio album, Grace, takes hold in a way few records do. No matter where your head is the first time you hear it, it hijacks your attention.
Mostly it’s Jeff’s voice. A four-octave tenor. Technically, it’s amazing, but that’s not why it compels. It compels because — at the risk of sounding froufrou — you hear the soul inside the notes. All the best singers are also fine actors. It’s the emoting. The interpretation. Like Sinatra before him, Buckley could sell a song. Sincerely. You felt he lived the things he was singing about. Most times, he had.
Nearly every track on Grace is terrific. Buckley’s skills as a songwriter were already far along. Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, and Brad Pitt were huge fans. No less an artist than Bob Dylan called the young musician “one of the great songwriters of the decade.” It’s a cover, however, that keeps Buckley’s memory alive. His version of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” is a transcendent standout on an already transcendent album. That recording made Time Magazine’s Top 500 Songs of all time.
Partly because Grace had not performed to expectations (it didn’t go Gold until 2002), Buckley had…
