Album Notes

Previously unreleased recording of Jackie Cain & Roy Kral captured live in 1976 at Howard Rumsey’s Concerts By the Sea and joined by John Mosher on bass, Gary Nash on drums, and Brian Atkinson on vibes.

In September 1976, (Howard) Rumsey welcomed Jackie Cain and her husband Roy Kral, a vocal duo whose impeccably polished, bop-inflected duets of songs from Broadway, cabaret, and modern jazz had made them a connoisseur’s delight since 1948. Arranger Roy, who played piano, spiced up every song with hip substitute chords and rhythmic twists; the end result was as pretty as it was sophisticated.
By the time Roy died in 2002, the couple had made about forty albums. This one deserves a high place among them. Its never-before-issued live tracks are culled from the same shows that yielded an obscure LP, Concerts by the Sea. But Echoes outshines its predecessor thanks to a superior mastering job by the original engineer, Rod Nicas. It’s easy to hear why film critic Leonard Maltin, a fan of theirs, wrote in Down Beat of getting “so caught up in that alluring sound” that it virtually swept him away. Jackie’s “exquisitely pure, crystal-like” tone was “a joy to hear,” he added.
The couple sang mostly in unison, an octave apart but in the same range; their blend had a shimmer that Roy liked to call “sympathetic vibrations.” Jackie’s blonde bangs and sunny look recalled a fellow pop beauty, Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary; but nobody on the charts sang more skillfully than Jackie Cain. Her butterscotch alto could nail the toughest intervals; her ballad singing was respected by Billie Holiday, Carmen McRae, and Shirley Horn. Roy sat at the piano looking debonair and playing with a manly percussiveness.
This CD holds great sentimental meaning for Jackie – as it will for anyone whose lives their music has touched.
-- James Gavin, New York City, 2006