Aleksandr Varlamov

Alexander Vladimirovich Varlamov (Russian: Алекса́ндр Влади́мирович Варла́мов, IPA: [Alˈjexˈandˈer vladˈimˈirˈoviˈtʃ varˈmaˈlɔv]; 19 June 1904 – 20 August 1990) was a Russian Soviet jazz composer and arranger. He was also the conductor of the jazz orchestra with the All-Union Radio Committee, along with being a singer and the leader of the leading Jazz orchestras in the Soviet Union, called the State Jazz Orchestra of the USSR. Additionally, he is accredited with founding the first ever, Soviet group of musician-improvisers called "The Seven" [Семерка]. He played an instrumental role in popularizing jazz music in Russia during the 1930s and amassed a huge corpus of works during his lifetime, up to 400 compositions include pieces for variety orchestra, songs, and music for films and cartoons. He was the great-grandson of Alexander Egorovich Varlamov. He was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR in 1979.