X-Nico

3 unusual facts about Luis Russell


Luis Russell

After the OKeh contract ended in September 1930, Russell recorded a handful of largely unremarkable sessions for Melotone, Brunswick and Victor.

The most notable of those recordings was his 1946 version of the pop standard, "The Very Thought of You".

Luis Carl Russell was born on Careening Cay, near Bocas del Toro, Panama, in a family of Afro-Caribbean ancestry.


Clyde Bernhardt

In 1937 he joined Edgar Hayes's orchestra, remaining there through 1942, then worked with Jay McShann, Cecil Scott, Luis Russell, Leonard Feather, Pete Johnson, Wynonie Harris, Claude Hopkins, and Paul and Dud Bascomb.

Teddy Hill

After moving to New York City, Hill had early gigs with the Whitman Sisters, George Howe and Luis Russell's orchestra in the 1920s, later forming his own band in 1934, which found steady work over the NBC radio network.


see also