Sonny Russo

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Santo J. "Sonny" Russo (b. March 20, 1929) is an American jazz trombonist.

Russo grew up in a musical family; both his father and grandfather were professional horn players. He first played piano and violin, and played with his father's group at age 15. 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), Jimmy Dorsey and Tommy Dorsey (1955-56), and Maynard Ferguson (1956). Starting in the mid-1950s Russo found work in the bands of various Broadway shows. In the late 1950s and 1960s he worked with Louie Bellson (1957), Machito, Bobby Hackett, Benny Goodman, and Doc Severinsen (1967). From 1967 to 1973 he was a member of the Tonight Show orchestra, and he worked sporadically with Frank Sinatra between 1967 and 1988. He played in Urbie Green's 21 Trombones in 1968 and in the World's Greatest Jazz Band in the 1970s.

Russo also recorded extensively with singers; in addition to Sinatra, he played behind Jimmy Rushing, Tony Bennett, Lena Horne, Perry Como, and Dinah Washington.

[edit] References

• Leonard Feather and Ira Gitler. The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz. Oxford, 1999, p. 577.