Born in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Russin played with some of the best known
jazz bands of the 1930s and 1940s, including
Benny Goodman,
Tommy Dorsey and
Glenn Miller. He led his own band briefly in the early 1940s. He solos in the recording the Glenn Miller band made of
Jerry Gray's composition, "
A String of Pearls" for
Bluebird Records in 1941. In 1950, Russin was credited as a musician with the backup band on two
Frank Sinatra songs for
Columbia Records, "Should I?" and "You Do Something To Me". He co-wrote the instrumental "All the Things You Ain't" with
Jimmy Dorsey which was released as a V-Disc 78 single, No. 391B, in March, 1945. He appeared briefly in the
Universal-International movie
The Glenn Miller Story (1954). Russin plays on the soundtrack to the
Warner Bros. movie
A Star Is Born (1954), playing "Cheating on Me" with a small group. He also appeared in the Universal-International movie
The Benny Goodman Story (1956). ==Discography==