Mention the 1940s and most people automatically think of the big bands and the names of Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman and Count Basie. But it was also a decade in which singers, small groups and song writers emerged from those bands to establish their own identities. It was the decade in which influences from outside the mainstream (country-western and rhythm-and-blues for example) began to influence American popular music in a very lively manner, and some of the music from the early 1940s is still resonant today. We will examine the music of such groups as the King Cole Trio and Louis Jordan and such songwriters who emerged to fame as Jimmy Van Heusen, Matt Dennis and Bobby Troup. We admit that for the first time we have not established a base for our programs in the 1925-35 decade, but please indulge us, for there are some real personal favorites here and we just had to do it!