Babe Russin

Who was Babe Russin?

Irving "Babe" Russin was a tenor saxophone player.

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. In 1953 he appeared briefly in the 1953 Universal-International movie The Glenn Miller Story

Russin plays on the soundtrack to the 1954 Warner Bros. Judy Garland movie A Star Is Born, playing "Cheating On Me" with a small group. He also appeared in the 1956 Universal-International movie The Benny Goodman Story.