Jackie Cain & Roy Kral - Echoes

Stleys: Vocal And Piano Jazz
Year: 2007
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 66:33
Size: 154,0 MB
Art: Front

(2:29)  1. I Wonder What's the Matter With Me
(3:58)  2. Corcovado
(2:38)  3. Mountain Greenery
(6:15)  4. It's So Peaceful In The Country
(3:58)  5. Walk Pretty
(4:21)  6. Sweet Surrender
(4:23)  7. The Fat Man
(3:39)  8. How Little We Know
(4:51)  9. The Way We Are
(3:43) 10. The Echoes Of My Life
(5:42) 11. Samba Do Avião
(4:51) 12. Winter Comes
(3:17) 13. The Runaround
(6:19) 14. Wheelers And Dealers
(6:01) 15. New York State Of Mind

In the annals of jazz vocal duos, none stands taller than Jackie Cain and her husband, the late Roy Kral. When it came to interpreting American popular songs they were without peer, and like Bobby Short or Matt Dennis, every note, every measure, every phrase was urbane and tasteful.  Echoes, on which Cain and Kral radiate hipness and charm as leaders of a blue-collar quintet, was recorded live in September 1976 at Howard Rumsey's Concerts by the Sea in Redondo Beach, California. The twosome would keep on singing and playing until Kral's death in 2002, always with the same warmth, intelligence and clarity of purpose that had defined their partnership for more than half a century. I don't know if this concert was typical (I suspect that it was), but one of the great pleasures lies in Cain and Kral's wide-ranging choice of material, some of which may be unfamiliar but all of which is splendid. It's pointless to catalog highlights, as almost everything qualifies; on the other hand, one must at least acknowledge the lovely, seldom-heard verse to Alec Wilder's "It's So Peaceful in the Country, Roy's clever salute to filmdom's Sydney Greenstreet, "The Fat Man (lyric by Fran Landesman), Wilder's poignant ballad "Echoes of My Life (lyric by Rogers Brackett) and André Previn/Dory Langdon's sardonic survey of the battle of the sexes, "The Runaround. 

That's not to suggest that anything else is less than stylish, from Robert Ragan's "I Wonder What's the Matter with Me to Billy Joel's "New York State of Mind. Antonio Carlos Jobim is well represented with "Corcovado and "Samba do Aviao, and there are irresistible songs by David Gates ("Sweet Surrender ), Harvie S ("Winter Comes, lyric by Jackie), Dave Frishberg ("Wheelers and Dealers ), Wilder again ("Walk Pretty, lyric by Landesman), Rodgers and Hart ("Mountain Greenery ) and Hoagy Carmichael/Johnny Mercer ("How Little We Know, which isn't the song of that name made popular by Frank Sinatra). Completing the concert are David Gates' "Walk Pretty and Roy's all-scat original, "The Way We Are. The backup trio, brought in from San Francisco, is admirable, and there are a number of bright solos by young vibraphonist Brian Atkinson. Engineer Rod Nicas, who recorded the concert in '76, has superbly mastered and mixed the tapes. For fans of Cain and Kral, Echoes provides a chance to hear them again at their best; for those who haven't had the pleasure, it's an exhilarating preface to their artistry and charisma. ~ Jack Bowers  http://www.allaboutjazz.com/echoes-jackie-cain-jazzed-media-review-by-jack-bowers.php

Personnel: Jackie Cain: vocals;  Roy Kral: piano, vocals;  Brian Atkinson: vibes;  John Mosher: bass;  Gary Nash: drums.

Echoes

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Jackie And Roy - Storyville Presents Jackie And Roy

Styles: Vocal And Piano Jazz
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 24:42
Size: 57,5 MB
Art: Front

(2:36)  1. Mountain Greenery
(2:58)  2. Yesterdays
(2:37)  3. Season In The Sun
(3:49)  4. Hook, Line And Snare
(3:00)  5. Cheerful Little Earful
(3:15)  6. I Didn't Know What Time It Was
(3:46)  7. Slowly
(2:39)  8. Thou Swell

Neither vocalist extraordinaire Jackie Cain, who died on September 15, nor her husband and musical partner, Roy Kral, ever claimed a particular closeness to the Boston scene. But Boston did them a good turn it housed the record company that gave them a chance to strut their stuff when they were just starting to make it as a duo act. The two albums they recorded for the Storyville label in 1955 set the tone for the two dozen that would follow in terms of musicianship and choice of material. “Finally,” wrote Jack Tracy in his review of the first of these, “Mr. and Mrs. Kral have been recorded the way they sound on personal appearances.”The partnership of Jackie and Roy was formed in 1946 in Chicago, where Jackie was singing with Jay Burkhart’s orchestra, and Roy was playing piano with George Davis at a club called Jump Town. Bob Anderson, a saxophonist with Burkhart who had worked with Kral in earlier days, brought Cain to Jump Town to sit in. They clicked. Soon Cain was the regular singer, and people noticed. Bandleader Charlie Ventura was one, and he hired them both in late 1947. Jackie and Roy were on their way.

Fast forward to May 1954, with Jackie and Roy in Boston for a week at Storyville, where owner George Wein signed them to his Storyville Records label. In late 1954 or early 1955, the duo recorded Jackie and Roy (STLP 322) as part of the Storyville Presents series. Their backing was excellent: Barry Galbraith on guitar, Bill Crow on bass, and Joe Morello on drums. The 10-inch LP featured eight tunes, a now-famous Burt Goldblatt cover photo, and glib George Frazier liner notes. The eight tunes included three Rodgers and Hart songs that remained in their repertoire for decades: “Mountain Greenery,” “Thou Swell,” and “I Didn’t Know What Time It Was;” flights of scat singing on two Kral originals; and the first of many Tommy Wolf  Fran Landesman compositions, “Season in the Sun.” Wrote reviewer Jack Tracy (Down Beat May 18, 1955): “It’s slickly swinging vocalizing singing that is applied to near-impeccable material and though there is still just that bit of chilliness to it that makes you wish they’d take their hair down and not worry if they were to make a mistake, it’s all most enjoyable.” Chilliness aside, Tracy gave the record four stars. Jackie and Roy’s popularity was not hurt by the fact they were easy on the eyes. A gushing Down Beat writer called them “wonderful looking young people; fresh, bright, and invigorating.” (He forgot “impossibly cheerful;” the duo just radiated joie de vivre.) Perhaps writers pushed the wholesome image because they were frightened by the looks of Marlon Brando and Lee Marvin in the proto-biker movie, The Wild One. In May 1955, Cain and Kral recorded their second effort for Storyville in Los Angeles, also part of the Storyville Presents series, and for whatever reason also called Jackie and Roy (STLP 904). This one was a 12-inch LP with a formidable West Coast band and liner notes by one of their champions, composer Alec Wilder. The dozen tunes included Tin Pan Alley standards; three Wolf and Landesman tunes, including the debut of “Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most;” “Dahuud” by Clifford Brown; and “Lazy Afternoon,” a ballad from the then-current Broadway musical, The Golden Apple.

Nat Hentoff’s five-star Down Beat review (Jan 25, 1956) heaped on praise from the first sentence: “This is one of the most excitingly pleasurable vocal albums of this or any year! Jackie and Roy are backed superbly by Barney Kessel, Shelly Manne, and Red Mitchell, but the leading honors go to this extraordinary team whose musicianship, imagination, and taste are so magnificently consistent. Neither Roy nor Jackie has a native sound of unusual impact, but they have everything else all the qualities listed above, plus a wonderfully swinging beat and such ears. And Roy, incidentally, blows some first rate piano.” Hentoff’s recommendation: “Don’t miss this one.” But that chilliness… Jackie and Roy were capable of uninhibited swing, but they never did quite beat the rap that they were a little too rehearsed, a little too controlled. A typical reaction was voiced by writer Don Gold in 1957, who heard them at Mr. Kelly’s in Chicago: “The Cain-Kral act contains excellent material, flawless presentation, and smooth showmanship… The well-rehearsed presentation, however, often strikes me as somewhat superficial and too contrived. More improvisation and less concern for details would give the act a genuine freshness, it seems to me. Perhaps this is what must be sacrificed in moving from the jazz idiom to the night club circuit.”

There was a third Jackie and Roy LP on Storyville, Sing Baby Sing! (STLP 915), released in fall 1956. It was a reissue of the 10-inch Jackie and Roy, with four additional tracks, recorded with Chicago musicians, date unknown. By this time, though, Jackie and Roy had a major-label recording contract with ABC-Paramount, and would soon head to Las Vegas for what became a five-year gig. They wouldn’t be back in Boston until late 1965, when Fred Taylor brought them to Paul’s Mall. Don Gold wrote of Jackie Cain that “Her voice is a delicate, subtle instrument. It is beautifully disciplined, with a splendid sense of dynamics, a fluid approach to phrasing, and a perceptive knowledge of lyric content.” Hentoff noted that Jackie “should be required listening for aspiring young singers.” I’ve added “Lazy Afternoon,” from the 12-inch Jackie and Roy, to my YouTube channel to showcase that voice. https://www.troystreet.com/tspots/2014/10/03/jackie-and-roy-and-storyville-records/

Storyville Presents Jackie And Roy

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Jackie Cain & Roy Kral - Forever

Styles: Vocal And Piano Jazz
Year: 2008
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 47:01
Size: 109,7 MB
Art: Front

(3:54)  1. The Duke
(5:01)  2. In A Sentimental Mood
(4:03)  3. I'm Just a Lucky So and So
(3:58)  4. Music is Forever
(4:27)  5. Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most
(2:13)  6. Cheerful Little Earful
(4:04)  7. Through The Windows of Cars
(2:27)  8. Fred Astaire
(2:31)  9. I Never Danced Before
(4:58) 10. The Continental
(6:18) 11. You Didn't Tell Me It Was Wrong
(3:00) 12. I Know That You Know

Jackie and Roy was an American jazz vocal team consisting of husband and wife singer Jackie Cain and singer / pianist Roy Kral. They sang together for 56 years and made almost 40 albums.  Kral's obituary in The New York Times said: "Their voices had similar ranges but were an octave apart, creating unusual harmonies." They first joined forces in 1946, and in 1996 they celebrated their 50th anniversary as a vocal duo. Jackie and Roy's stint with Charlie Ventura's band in 1948 and 1949 brought them recognition; Lou Stein's "East of Suez" was an unusual feature for their voices. Shortly after leaving Ventura in June 1949, they were married and worked together on a regular basis thereafter. Jackie and Roy had their own television show in Chicago in the early 1950s, worked in Las Vegas from 1957 to 1960, settled in New York in 1963, and appeared on some television commercials. They recorded many performances for a variety of record labels through the decades, and performed until Roy Kral died in August 2002. Fairly early in their career, Jackie and Roy were befriended by composer Alec Wilder, who wrote the liner notes for one of their earliest albums, Jackie Cain and Roy Kral (1955). They had always favored Wilder's songs and, ten years after his death, paid tribute by recording an entire album of them, An Alec Wilder Collection. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_and_Roy

Forever

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Jackie Cain & Roy Kral - Lovesick

Styles: Vocal And Piano Jazz 
Year: 1966
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 36:05
Size: 94,7 MB
Art: Front

(3:24)  1. Lovesick
(2:22)  2. Samba Triste
(3:22)  3. Mimosa and Me
(3:44)  4. Quiet Nights (Corcovado)
(3:42)  5. Such a Lonely Girl Am I
(2:12)  6. A Big Beautiful Ball
(3:13)  7. Let's Begin
(2:16)  8. I Wonder What's the Matter with Me
(3:11)  9. If You Could See Me Now
(2:22) 10. Mountain Greenery
(3:34) 11. You Really Started Something
(2:36) 12. The World Is Your Balloon

Jackie and Roy was an American jazz vocal team consisting of husband and wife singer Jackie Cain and singer / pianist Roy Kral. They sang together for 56 years and made almost 40 albums. Kral's obituary in The New York Times said: "Their voices had similar ranges but were an octave apart, creating unusual harmonies." They first joined forces in 1946, and in 1996 they celebrated their 50th anniversary as a vocal duo. Jackie and Roy's stint with Charlie Ventura's band in 1948 and 1949 brought them recognition; Lou Stein's "East of Suez" was an unusual feature for their voices. Shortly after leaving Ventura in June 1949, they were married and worked together on a regular basis thereafter. Jackie and Roy had their own television show in Chicago in the early 1950s, worked in Las Vegas from 1957 to 1960, settled in New York in 1963, and appeared on some television commercials. They recorded many performances for a variety of record labels through the decades, and performed until Roy Kral died in August 2002. Fairly early in their career, Jackie and Roy were befriended by composer Alec Wilder, who wrote the liner notes for one of their earliest albums, Jackie Cain and Roy Kral (1955). They had always favored Wilder's songs and, ten years after his death, paid tribute by recording an entire album of them, An Alec Wilder Collection. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_and_Roy

Personnel: Vocals – Jackie Cain; Piano, Vocals – Roy Kral; Bass – Don Payne; Drums – Don McDonald

Lovesick

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Jackie Cain, Roy Kral - By Jupiter & Girl Crazy

Styles: Vocal And Piano Jazz
Year: 1964
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 40:39
Size: 94,9 MB
Art: Front

(3:09)  1. Everything I've Got
(3:31)  2. Nobody's Heart
(2:30)  3. Here's a Hand
(4:02)  4. Careless Rhapsody
(2:23)  5. Jupiter Forbid
(3:08)  6. Wait Till You See
(2:46)  7. I Got Rhythm
(4:51)  8. Embraceable You
(3:36)  9. Could You Use Me?
(3:29) 10. Bidin' My Time
(3:27) 11. But Not For Me
(3:41) 12. Treat Me Rough

Jackie and Roy was an American jazz vocal team consisting of husband and wife singer Jackie Cain and singer / pianist Roy Kral. They sang together for 56 years and made almost 40 albums. Kral's obituary in The New York Times said: "Their voices had similar ranges but were an octave apart, creating unusual harmonies." They first joined forces in 1946, and in 1996 they celebrated their 50th anniversary as a vocal duo. Jackie and Roy's stint with Charlie Ventura's band in 1948 and 1949 brought them recognition; Lou Stein's "East of Suez" was an unusual feature for their voices. Shortly after leaving Ventura in June 1949, they were married and worked together on a regular basis thereafter. Jackie and Roy had their own television show in Chicago in the early 1950s, worked in Las Vegas from 1957 to 1960, settled in New York in 1963, and appeared on some television commercials. They recorded many performances for a variety of record labels through the decades, and performed until Roy Kral died in August 2002. Fairly early in their career, Jackie and Roy were befriended by composer Alec Wilder, who wrote the liner notes for one of their earliest albums, Jackie Cain and Roy Kral (1955). They had always favored Wilder's songs and, ten years after his death, paid tribute by recording an entire album of them, An Alec Wilder Collection. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_and_Roy

By Jupiter & Girl Crazy

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Jackie & Roy - Bits & Pieces And Free & Easy

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 72:34
Size: 166.1 MB
Styles: Vocal
Year: 2011
Art: Front

[3:28] 1. Look Around
[4:05] 2. Stopping The Clock
[4:22] 3. (So You've Had A) Change Of Heart
[3:37] 4. Honey Did
[3:37] 5. Whisper Not
[2:38] 6. Say Cheese
[4:58] 7. Aura
[4:04] 8. Darn That Dream
[2:15] 9. I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles
[3:16] 10. Walking
[2:58] 11. Free And Easy
[2:45] 12. There Will Never Be Another You
[3:55] 13. Angel Eyes
[2:44] 14. It's A Lovely Day Today
[3:25] 15. Dixie
[3:17] 16. Who Wants To Fall In Love
[3:55] 17. So It's Spring
[2:58] 18. Ooh! That Kiss
[3:29] 19. I'm Glad There Is You
[2:21] 20. Aren't You Glad You're You
[4:16] 21. Pent-Up House

Jackie and Roy Kral rose to fame in the late Forties with their delightful vocal contribution to Charlie Venturas popular bop combo. Exciting and swinging, their work, imbued with their love and understanding of music, made these two bright young stars real and immediate favorites of jazz fans. On these recordings made in New York and Los Angeles in 1957, the duo is backed by two top studio bands conducted by Roy himself and by the great Bill Holman. Impeccably selected and tastefully presented, the material is illuminated by inventive singing delivered with consistent freshness and splendid technical command. Jackie is the featured singer, but Roy joins in often enough to heighten the pacing that much more. The arrangements are full-voiced, with swinging, functionally effective backdrops for the vocals, garnished with occasional instrumental solos from the stellar personnel. Holman wrote most of the arrangements, but Ernie Wilkins, Ralph Burns and Quincy Jones also collaborated in the New York sessions. "The way this set is packaged, if you arent up and your Jackie & Roy, you might not realize that this is a value packed twofer of prime Jackie & Roy thatll blow you away. Two sets from their prime 50s years finds them in the company of Bill Holman and Quincy Jones along with players including Richie Kamuca, Clark Terry, Jerome Richardson, Herbie Mann, Shelley Manne and a host of other mind blowers when they were young and clawing for a piece of the action. Bopping, scatting, singing, swinging and flying through some vocalese, 1957 was a killer year for this duo. Before their CTI, Vegas, Sondheim, etc ventures in the later years, they were the cool definition of cool. If you want some wonderful jazz vocals to take your mind off high gas prices and the rest of the worlds troubles, plunk down a few bucks for this oasis and lose yourself in this hipsters paradise."

Bits & Pieces And Free & Easy mc
Bits & Pieces And Free & Easy zippy

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Jackie & Roy - Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 36:55
Size: 84.5 MB
Styles: Vocal jazz
Year: 1955/1984/1992
Art: Front

[2:29] 1. Says My Heart
[2:38] 2. Let's Take A Walk Around The Block
[4:16] 3. Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most
[1:55] 4. Mine
[2:44] 5. Bill's Bit
[3:22] 6. Lover
[4:09] 7. Tiny Told Me
[3:10] 8. You Smell So Good
[3:19] 9. Lazy Afternoon
[2:26] 10. Daahoud
[3:32] 11. Listen Little Girl
[2:50] 12. I Wish I Were In Love Again

Among other delights, this 1955 Storyville title--reissued on Black Lion--boasts one of the first versions of Tommy Wolf and Fran Landesman's classy jazz standard, "Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most." It's one of those songs that most jazz singers feel they must attempt at some point or other. (Norah Jones demo-ed it for her Bluenote audition, in fact.) The vaguely exotic "Lazy Afternoon" was also very popular among cabaret singers at the time. Otherwise, this is a typically fresh Jackie & Roy outing with some older standards ("Lover"), a bonafide jazz tune (Clifford Brown's "Daahoud"), and some choice novelties and unknowns ("Tiny Told Me," "You Smell So Good"!). ~Richard Mortifoglio

Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most

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