Ella Fitzgerald

Fitzgerald earned that nickname because of her range, clarity, swing feel, and long public career that began after she won an amateur contest at the Apollo Theater in 1934. She later recorded major Song Book albums devoted to composers such as Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, and George Gershwin.

Fitzgerald could improvise horn-like lines with precise rhythm and pitch, turning nonsense syllables into fully shaped jazz solos. Her 1940s recording of "Flying Home" became one of the classic examples of vocal improvisation.

The Song Books were album projects, mainly for Verve Records, that presented American popular songs by major writers. The Cole Porter Song Book from 1956 helped define Fitzgerald as one of the great interpreters of the Great American Songbook.

Yes, Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong recorded several beloved duet albums for Verve in the 1950s. Ella and Louis from 1956 paired her clean melodic phrasing with Armstrong's trumpet and gravelly voice.