Ross Russell was a record store owner (the Tempo Music Shop) when he formed the Dial label in 1946 specifically to record Charlie Parker, who was staying in Los Angeles. Although Russell courted controversy by releasing Parker's infamous "Lover Man" session (feeling during Bird's resulting convalescence in Camarillo State Hospital that the altoist might never play again), he had other opportunities to document the great altoist, and even acted as his manager for a year. Russell also recorded Dizzy Gillespie, Howard McGhee, Dodo Marmarosa, Dexter Gordon and Erroll Garner, among others, before Dial shut down in 1949. An unusual aspect of Dial's later reissues is that Russell saved the alternate takes, thereby multiplying the amount of music in the label's vaults, a fact that collectors in future years appreciated. Since the late '40s, Russell often worked as a jazz journalist, contributing pieces to Down Beat, writing two books (Jazz Style In Kansas City and the Southwest and Bird Lives) and teaching jazz at colleges. He died January 31, 2000 at the age of 90. ~ Scott Yanow, Rovi