“Grace Around The World”; Jeff Buckley; (Sony Legacy)

 Like the fatal misfortunes that befell Sam Cooke and Otis Redding at crucial moments in their creative developments, Jeff Buckley’s death about 12 years ago was disheartening given the genius he showed during his short albeit marked recording career.

To commemorate the 15-year anniversary of his sole CD “Grace, Sony Legacy releases “Grace Around The World,” a DVD/CD collection of live footages from Buckley’s 1994-1995 world tour (hence the slight tweak in the title).

“Grace Around” has all tracks from “Grace” save for “Corpus Christi Carol”, which was replaced by the more-commonly performed, “What Will You Say.” The tracks are interspersed with discussions by Buckley himself.

The man was one of the best male voices of his time, especially in terms of talent, presence and creativity. To wit, we never hear Buckley perform a song the same way twice during his entire tour. Worth checking out are his cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” and the songs, “Last Goodbye” and “Lover You Should Have Come Over.”

A commentator toward the end of “Amazing Grace,” expresses a controversial point of view: Buckley’s early death may have been a blessing of sorts.

It is a valid point—which in no way should be seen as saying that Jeff’s death was a good thing.

Rather, it’s because no one will ever know the quality of music Jeff would have made had he lived longer.

It’s the same as not knowing how Sam Cooke could have topped his masterpiece-of-a-CD, “A Change is Gonna Come.” Or what Otis could have done after “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay”.

And it’s okay: Sometimes legacy is not measured by longevity.