Count Basie was a highly influential jazz bandleader and pianist who performed for almost 50 years from the early 1900s until his death in 1984. He led his group and was known for his jumping beat style as well as compositions like One O'Clock Jump and Jumpin' at the Woodside. Ella Fitzgerald was another great jazz musician from the 1940s who was renowned as a singer, particularly after leaving her group to become a solo artist and performing with Norman Granz. Her singing adapted to the bebop style and recordings like Flying Home from 1945 had a large impact on jazz music during that decade.

1. Count Basie
Born in 1904, Count Basie became one of the most
important jazz bandleaders of all time. He played piano and
led his group for almost 50 years. Along with being a pianist,
he was an organist, a bandleader, and a composer. His music
was characterized through a certain jumping beat, his
trademark. He was able to hold onto some of the greatest
musicians of the early 1940s, such as Lester Young. Some of
his most famous pieces wereOne O'Clock Jump and Jumpin'
at the Woodside. He passed away in 1984.

2. Ella Fitzgerald
Another Great musician of the 1940s, Ella Fitzgerald, also know as
Lady Ella and the First lady of Song, was a jazz singer. She was born
in 1917 and died 1996. During the 30s she sang with a group, but in
1942, she left the group to become a solo singer. She began to appear
in Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic concerts. In the 1940s,
the advent of bebop music caused a change in her singing style, and as
she described quot;I just tried to do what I heard the horns in the band
doing.quot; In 1945, Ella's recording of Flying home later on was
described by the New York times as quot; one of the most influential jazz
recordings of the decadequot;. Other songs that she sung, such asOh, Lady
be Good! and How High the Moon were also very popular.