Congo (Blues) (1932)
Leonid Utesov. Arrangement: N. Ignatiev
Description: Born Lazar Weisbein in the city of Odessa, Utesov was the most famous performer in the Soviet Union, as a singer and later movie star. His favorite repertoire was the jazz and criminal romances of his native Odessa. After hearing the Ted Lewis Jazz Band during a trip to Paris in 1928, he returned to Russia determined to make a Russian brand of jazz, which he did with re-orchestrations of Yiddish, Russian and Ukrainian songs. His star role in the film 'Merry Fellows' (1934), as a shepherd turned jazz singer, cemented his fame as a film star and jazz musician.