If a contest was held to see what tenor saxophonist had appeared on the most records or played on the most gigs, the winner would no doubt be someone like Babe Russin, about whom even experienced jazz listeners might respond with something in the nature of "who?" Born Irving Russin in Pittsburgh in the early 1900s, Russin began playing professionally with the California Ramblers in 1926, when he was only 15 years old. He toured in Europe in 1928 and then came to New York where he worked in bands led by trumpeter Red Nichols, a relationship that was briefly interrupted by a run with the Ben Pollock combo. Russin became a staff musician for the CBC network in the '30s, but grew restless for music with some solo space and took an offer to work in the Benny Goodman band. Three months into this engagement and it was all over, as the leader pulled his favorite gag involving the loosening of the lightbulb on Russin's music stand. The drummer hit a bass bomb, the light went out, and Russin's ability to read music was hindered severely. Apparently this was a Goodman gag which also left him in the position to fire a player by the end of the night if he felt like it, which he did in the case of poor Russin. He joined the Tommy Dorsey band, then led his own outfit in the early part of the '40s, working out of Florida as well as New York City. He worked in Jimmy Dorsey's band from 1942 to 1944, then played in an armed forces band through the second World War. In the late '40s he patched things up with Goodman and also wound up making appearances in several of Hollywood's romanticized versions of the jazz life, #The Glen Miller Story and #The Benny Goodman Story.

As he got older, he preferred the life of a studio musician in California, although reunions of the Goodman band would often include him in the saxophone section, his lightbulb screwed in tight. The Russin sound remained highly in demand for recording projects that desired a warm, rich, jazz saxophone sound. His early influences were players such as Coleman Hawkins, the classic jazz tenor saxophone soloist who could knock someone over with a cloud of air. Russin used this approach as a homeground or basic palatte, but was known for updating his soloing style with little bits that he appropriated from whatever new trends were going on in the music. Some of his best jazz playing was recorded with bandleader Bunny Berigan, but he has credits on an eye-straining number of albums including recordings by Frank Sinatra, Lionel Hampton, Dean Martin, Frankie Laine, Sarah Vaughan, and Dinah Washington.

There were also other musicians in the Russin family. Jack Russin played piano with Red Nichols, while sister Sunny Russo was also a professional pianist who shared her brother's love of nicknames. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, Rovi