Composer, arranger, singer and conductor Varlamov Alexander Vladimirovich: biography, creativity and interesting facts

The well-known film directed by Karen Shakhnazarov "We are from jazz" entered the top twenty box-office pictures in the USSR in 1983. The film was based on stories about the creation of a Soviet jazz band in the 1920s. Their authors were told by the composer, singer, arranger and conductor Alexander Varlamov. It was from his work, according to Leonid Utesov, everything began ...

A brief biography of Alexander Varlamov will be presented to your attention in the article.

The flowering of jazz in Soviet Russia

Modern generation, not versed in jazz, it seems that this Negro music has always been not in high esteem in the USSR. However, this is not quite true. There were persecutions for jazz, but later. In the thirties, this musical trend was considered the ideological and progressive art of the proletariat. Jazz orchestras played in the Kremlin, participated in filming at Mosfilm, for example, in the pictures "Circus", "Jolly Fellows", "The Girl Hurries on a Date". There were more than a hundred jazz orchestras in the country. This style of music fell in love with many. He could be heard in the restaurant, on the dance floor, in the foyer of the cinema before the start of the sessions, in a concert, circus, on the radio and the record.

The first Soviet jazz orchestras

In Moscow in 1936 they established the State Jazz Orchestra, which was run by Victor Knushevitsky. His jazz collectives were with the railwaymen and the Radio Committee. Among the music connoisseurs, such genres as the vocal ensemble and jazz tap dance were popular. Foreign jazz orchestras from Poland, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Sweden actively participated in the country.

The creative principles of the jazz of the 1930s determined the way of development of this direction in Russia. Orchestras led by Valentin Parnakh in practice have shown that jazz can become an independent number in concert and a philharmonic genre, so that the 1930s can be called the "golden" time of Soviet jazz. At the same time, a jazz band of Alexander Varlamov appears. In 1930 he created the "Pervoksay", otherwise "The first vocal quartet of modern variety."

Biography: Alexander Varlamov and his love of music in his childhood

June 19, 1904 in the creative family was born Alexander Vladimirovich Varlamov. Although he himself said that his birthday is for a month later - July 19. A pier in the documents something mixed up and recorded in June. Friends and relatives congratulated the composer on his birthday two times - in June and in July. He was always very glad about it.

Alexander Varlamov was born in the city of Simbirsk in a fairly musical environment. His great-grandfather was a composer and author of popular romances and songs. Konstantin Aleksandrovich Varlamov, a great-uncle, was a famous dramatic actor. It is worth noting that many members of the family were also fond of music. Little Sasha's mother shone in the role of an opera singer, sang in a church choir.

The choice between music and theater

The logical continuation of the family dynasty became the enthusiasm of Alexander Vladimirovich Varlamov music, which became his profession. Living until September 1918 in Simbirsk, Alexander studied first in the first, and then in the second male gymnasium. In the same city, he graduated from a music school under the guidance of E.V. Zetnerskoy. In Simbirsk, his first musical creations-the waltz "Evenings" and the play "Sadness" - were published.

However, the music did not immediately fully master the dreams of young Alexander. He wanted to realize himself in the career of a dramatic actor. For this Varlamov in 1922 entered the acting faculty in GITIS. However, the love of music was stronger, Alexander goes to the music school. The Gnessins. There he is engaged in the composition class with such masters as Rheingold Glier and Dmitry Rogal-Levitsky.

Passion for jazz

During his studies in Moscow Varlamov Alexander first heard jazz. He attended a concert of jazz Valentin Parnakh. The audience was delighted and stunned by the unusual spectacle and new music. In 1926, Alexander Varlamov attended the performance of the touring jazz band Frank Wilters. The music shocked and captivated Alexander Varlamov. He began to comprehend the basics of jazz orchestration, the method of playing, instrumentation.

The passion for jazz Alexander Varlamov was also presented by his enthusiasm for radio engineering. Through a home-made radio, he listened to this extraordinary music. His greatest impression was on jazz after watching the movie "The King of Jazz", in which the famous composer and pianist George Gershwin performed his own rhapsody. Alexander Varlamov himself begins to write music in the style of jazz.

The first steps in jazz

The first music collective of Alexander Varlamov was "Pervoksay". He graduates with a diploma in conductor in 1931-1933, he is the head of the musical part of the Moscow miniatures theater. However, his plans were different. Varlamov Alexander collects a jazz orchestra at the Central House of the Red Army and holds a first-rate concert with great scope.

Attention to the public, he attracts a collaboration with an African-American singer Celestina Kohl. By the way, the story with this performer was in the film "We are from jazz". In the USSR, she was invited by a relative, a worker of the Moscow Bearing Plant, a deputy of the Moscow Soviet, Robert Robinson. In Moscow, she received citizenship and studied singing. She liked the skill of Varlamov's orchestra and, cooperating, they even released a record.

Although during the first meeting, Celestine flatly refused to perform with a jazz ensemble of whites. Administrator of the team Felix Danilevich hardly, but persuaded the singer. Especially for her, Alexander Varlamov wrote romances "Yellow Rose", "Lallabye", "Rhapsody of Love" by Williams and "Time in My Hands".

Later Varlamov Alexander assembled the first in the union of the group of musicians-improvisers "Seven". In 1938 he worked with the jazz orchestra of the All-Union Radio Committee, along with him acted on Soviet television. In the early 40-ies was the head of the jazz orchestra of the MVTU. N. Bauman, later conducted by the State Jazz Orchestra of the USSR.

With the outbreak of the war, the State Gajaz of the USSR was transformed into an exemplary jazz orchestra of the People's Commissariat of Defense. The collective went to the front, where almost all the orchestraists were killed. Varlamov Alexander stayed in Moscow and directed symphonic jazz at the All-Union Pop Art Studio. He prepared musical numbers for performances in front of US sailors in the ports of Murmansk and Arkhangelsk.

Years in exile

The far-reaching plans of the talented musician were unexpectedly interrupted in the winter of 1943. Alexander Varlamov was taken into custody by a military convoy. He was deported from Moscow to the Urals, and then to Kazakhstan. Until 1948 he was the head of the camp band, worked as a teacher in Karaganda. There are several versions of the reasons for the arrest and arrest of the composer, but the exact occasion is unknown. Alexander Varlamov was accused of preparing concerts for the Germans, preparing to escape abroad and betraying the Motherland. He spent 13 years in camps and exile.

After the war

Rehabilitated the composer in 1956, restored in the Union of Composers. After returning to Moscow Varlamov Alexander Vladimirovich composed music for variety orchestras, television programs, movies. With his light hand, such compositions for the orchestra as "Early Hour", "Happy Hour", "Life Happiness is Full", "Dixie Lee" and others have gained popularity.

He wrote plays: "Romantic Rhapsody", "My Favorite Edge", "You Believe, You Understand" and others. Varlamov was a talented translator, translated foreign songs and performed them. He was the arranger of the Italian barcarole in the performance of Adeline Patti.

Alexander Varlamov is a composer who, in the 1970s, wrote works for a big band. The native city of Simbirsk, later named Ulyanovsk, dedicated the composition "Concert for trumpet and orchestra" in 1986. He worked hard on performing techniques and ensemble musicians playing, which led to a significant increase in professionalism in Soviet jazz and influenced the development of jazz in the USSR. At the end of his life, Alexander Varlamov lived in Moscow in the Bibirevo district, and in 1979 he was awarded the title "Honored Artist of the RSFSR." The composer died on August 20, 1990, and was buried at the Domodedovo Cemetery.