Oleg Lundstrem

Oleg Leonidovich Lundstrem (also spelled Lundstroem, Lundström, Russian: Олег Леонидович Лундстрем; 2 April 1916, Chita — 14 October 2005, Korolyov, Moscow Oblast) was a Soviet and Russian jazz composer and conductor of the Oleg Lundstrem Orchestra, one of the earliest officially recognized jazz bands in the Soviet Union (full official name: The State Oleg Lundstrem Chamber Orchestra of Jazz Music, Russian: Государственный камерный оркестр джазовой музыки под управлением Олега Лундстрема; currently, Oleg Lundstrem Memorial State Jazz Orchestra, Russian: Государственный оркестр джазовой музыки имени Олега Лундстрема).

Lundstrem was born to a family of musicians in Chita, Transbaikal Oblast.

In 1935, inspired by Duke Ellington's "Dear Old Southland" record which he occasionally purchased in Harbin for a private party, Lundstrem joined forces with eight other young Russian amateur musicians and formed the Oleg Lundstrem Orchestra.

Until 1947, the band was an important part of Shanghai's jazz scene, along with Buck Clayton Orchestra.

After World War II, in 1947, Lundstrem returned to the Soviet Union and settled in Kazan, where he worked as a violinist in the opera and ballet theatre, while keeping his jazz orchestra as a side act.