Sonny Russo

He had a long list of associations with noted jazz musicians; he started out with Buddy Morrow in 1947, and then played with Lee Castle (1948), Sam Donahue (1949), Artie Shaw (1949–50), Art Mooney (1950), Tito Puente, Jerry Wald, Tommy Tucker, Buddy Rich, Ralph Flanagan (1951–52), the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra (1953–55), Neal Hefti (1954–55), John LaPorta (1954–1957) where Russo played Trombone Jimmy Dorsey and Tommy Dorsey (1955–56), and Maynard Ferguson (1956).

In the late 1950s and 1960s he worked with Louie Bellson (1957), Celia Cruz-Tito Puente (1966), [1] Machito, Bobby Hackett, Benny Goodman, and Doc Severinsen (1967).

He also played on Urbie Green's 21 Trombones and solos on many others including Maynard Ferguson, Sauter Finnegan, Artie Shaw, Neil Hefti, and the World's Greatest Jazz Band in the 1970s.

[1] Russo recorded extensively with singers; in addition to Frank Sinatra he played behind Jimmy Rushing, Tony Bennett, Lena Horne, Perry Como, Dinah Washington, Liza Minnelli, Elvis Presley, Paul Anka, Ray Charles, Steve Lawrence, and Eydie Gorme.

He has also done many Jazz gigs with the likes of Al Cohn, Zoot Simms, Mousey Alexander, and Milt Hinton.