The top popular singers of 1949 held their own in 1950. Last week, with returns in from their annual jazz-fan polls, both Down Beat and Metronome found that rubber-throated Billy Eckstine and sultry-voiced Sarah Vaughan again led all the rest.
The taste in jazz bands had changed a bit, if only slightly: up into first place, nosing out last year’s favorite, Woody Herman, went Progressive Jazzman Stan Kenton. For the second time in Down Beat, blind British Pianist George Shearing and his Quintet won the “best instrumental combo” title. For the ninth time, Spike Jones was elected “King of Corn.” Runner-up: Guy Lombardo.
Among the oldtimers, Bing Crosby dropped from third to sixth place in Down Beat’s poll, and tumbled from twelfth to 17th in Metronome’s.
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