Music: The Favorites

For ten years, Manhattan’s jazz magazine Metronome has polled its predominantly youthful readers on their favorite shorthair music and musicians of the year. Last June, Metronome editors got more ambitious, set out to discover the sweet-and-swing favorites of “all time.” Last week, the fans’ ballots were in.

Best song of all time: Hoagy Carmichael’s Stardust (1929).

Best big band: Duke Ellington’s.

Best instrumentalist: Benny Goodman.

Best female singer: Billie Holiday.

Biggest surprise: Billy (“Mr. B.”) Eckstine (TIME, June 20) was voted “greatest popular male singer of all time,” just a iump ahead of Bing Crosby.