Илья Жак

(September 25, 1906, Poltava - October 2, 1964, Leningrad) - Soviet composer-songwriter, conductor. In 1930 he graduated from the Baku Conservatory, played in various orchestras in Leningrad. In 1938-1941 he was the musical director and chief arranger of Джаз-Оркестр Под Управлением Якова Скоморовского, for whom he wrote or edited most of the pop and jazz compositions performed by the orchestra. Ilya Zhak worked as an accompanist for Клавдия Шульженко, for whom he wrote several songs. Other songs were written for Владимир Коралли and Изабелла Юрьева. For the song "Beskozyrka" he was awarded the Order of the Red Star. In 1942 he was taken out of the besieged Leningrad, worked in the "Ensemble of Five Seas" under the leadership of Vano Muradeli in Moscow. Since 1944 - the second conductor of the orchestra of the Leningrad Variety Theater, including the Аркадий Райкин Theater of Miniatures.