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Tuesday, August 10, 2021

The Glory Of Love - Jackie And Roy

Tain't No Use

The Glory Of Love
Jackie And Roy
Produced by Creed Taylor
Cover Photography: Alan Fontaine
Cover Design: Bob Crozier
Engineering: Irv Greenbaum
Recorded March, 1956
ABC- Paramount ABC 120
A Product of AM-PAR RECORD CORP.

Roy Kral: Piano
Milt Hinton: Bass
Barry Galbraith: Guitar
Osie Johnson: Drums

From the back cover: According to all the cliches, it's easier for an actor to project a character who is nothing like himself than to play a role that resembles his own life and personality. This is one of the traditions Jackie and Roy ignore. Having sung their love songs together from 1947 to 1949, they talked themselves into the whole project; got married. In love, with two kids, their romantic duets are more convincing than if they had studied the parts under Lee Strasberg.

Another Jackie and Roy paradox, this one more in line with show business tradition, is the impromptu singing-in-the-shower sound they get with material that by rights should sound pat, precise and beaten to death by the nearly scientific method the two prepare the songs for a record date. Weeks of study, rehearsals, re-arrangements – an approach veering on perfectionism – emerge as simplicity itself. Even stranger, the intense hard work of readying the knock-out performance (which they took 12 hours to get to their liking once they began to record) left the rather-sing-than-eat Krals as happy as any people who hadn't been doing anything but relaxing with a favorite pastime.

Problem #3: What do you call two people who sing ballads and modern love lyrics – who are completely within the jazz idiom – but who sound by turns like semi-classical singers or like modern jazz instrumentalists – who can interpret an idiot's delight "I Love You Real" one minute and the haunting, almost icily beautiful "The Winter Of My Discontent" the next? Obviously, you have to make up new words. Maybe soon, it will be simple enough to describe the inevitable imitators –"how do they sound? Well, kind of like Jackie and Roy." – Marian Taylor

From Billboard: August 25, 1956: Whether this is a "jazz" set, could be argued. However, there is no disputing the musical merit and romantic appeal of the duo's vocalizing. The arrangements are suave and sophisticated with deft jazz touches provided in the background by Barry Galbraith, Milt Hinton and Osie Johnson. The material is fresh, much of it new, the remainder consists of well chosen but little known standards. This LP should have pop as well as jazz, customers as its target. Good sales predicted.

The Glory Of Love
The Best Thing For You
I Love You Real
Could You Use Me?
Miz Margret
Love Is Sweeping The Country
You Inspire Me
Looking At You
Where Did The Gentleman Go?
Let's Get Away From It All
Tain't No Use
The Winter Of My Discontent

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