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Jackie Cain, sparkling jazz singer in duo
with husband for decades, dies at 86


Jackie Cain and Roy Kral

By Adam Bernstein September 17 at 10:38 AM

Jackie Cain, the sparkling jazz singer who teamed with her husband, Roy Kral, and became an acclaimed act on record and stage for more than a half-century, died Sept. 15 at her home in Montclair, N.J. She was 86.

The cause was complications from a stroke about four years ago, said the music writer James Gavin, a family friend.

Jackie and Roy, as they were known, rose to initial prominence as singers — she an effervescent soprano, he a warm baritone — with the bebop saxophonist Charlie Ventura and his “Bop for the People” band in the late 1940s.

With such songs as “East of Suez” and an uptempo version of the pre-Jazz Age warhorse “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles,” Jackie and Roy were among the first to shape the art of vocalese, a wordless singing style modeled on intricate bebop harmonies and phrasing.

Vocalese was further popularized by King Pleasure, the vocal trio Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, the group Les Double Six and, in later years, the Manhattan Transfer.

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I always enjoyed their multo-hip music. She had a beautiful, clear voice.