Igor Sandler spoke about the legacy of rock polymath Big Nick
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We have been holding evenings in memory of rock musicians since 2009. Unfortunately, more and more often the heroes of the first and even the second wave of rock are leaving us. In this column, I also more than once remembered my friends – great musicians and wonderful people who left behind a bright creative legacy.
Two weeks ago we held an evening in memory of Alexander Monin, a sex symbol of the 80s, frontman of the rock band Cruise and my close friend. People’s and honored artists performed songs of the legendary group, and they sounded not nostalgic, but very relevant. Cruise drummer Nikolai Chunusov also left this year. More than half of the composition of this bright rock band is no longer with us…
A big loss for me was the departure of Kolya Bogaichuk – for Big Nick’s friends. For me, he has always been associated with Big Mick, the permanent sound engineer of the legendary band Metallica, who brilliantly honed the signature sound of this group, with whom I met many times both in Germany and in Russia. He also had a huge beard, but it was even heavier and more voluminous than that of Big Nick, not only my great friend, but also a partner in many musical projects and endeavors.
We saw off Big Nick on his last journey to the Vostryakovskoye cemetery, where another close friend of mine, People’s Artist of the USSR Iosif Kobzon, rests. I remembered how at an event of the Foundation for Gifted Children and Youth I introduced Kolya to Joseph Davydovich, at that time he was the chairman of the foundation, and the three of us talked for a long time. It was sad to think that this could not be a coincidence: two outstanding figures of Russian musical culture, fellow countrymen who were born very close to each other in the Donbass, met again, never to be separated…
I knew Kolya for a very long time, for decades. An unusually erudite, kind-hearted person. You could talk with him for hours, discovering something new. He was deeply immersed in music, rock culture, jazz. A music critic, a columnist with a capital letter, the standard of a person to whom one could turn to for any question about music and receive a comprehensive answer.
At the end of the 2000s, at the suggestion of Sergei Dorenko, I hosted the program “Conversations about Russian Rock and Jazz” on the radio. Big Nick’s participation in this program was a new twist, enriching it with interesting content, and this undoubtedly expanded the audience of listeners. While co-hosting the program, we invited many foreign and Russian musicians. Kolya anticipated the answers of our guests and thoroughly knew the biographies of the musicians. He always brought vinyl and introduced us and the listeners to his rich and unique record collection.
One incident comes to mind now. Once talking with Big Nick about vinyl and musicians, I told him that I bought my first Western vinyl for 60 rubles when I was 14 years old (at that time almost the average monthly salary of a Soviet person!). These were the two records that revolutionized my understanding of music: Grand Funk Railroad’s Survival and Simon Dupree’s Reservation. And Kolya unexpectedly, right off the bat, told me the biography of Simon Dupree in such detail that I was amazed at the depth of his knowledge! You could ask him a question about any foreign musician, and he not only told him his biography, but also knew a lot of professional details: where, when, with whom, in what studio he recorded, in which albums this musician took part, etc. Kolya was a unique person with encyclopedic knowledge. And, of course, he knew almost everything about Russian jazz and rock.
Since 2011, an important creative period began in Big Nick’s life. After I introduced businessman Sergei Khalin to jazz guru Alexei Kozlov, we established a cultural foundation, to which Big Nick was invited as director. It was there that the fundamental and fruitful stage in Kolya’s life began. I have always been fascinated by Big Nick’s special love for the work of Alexei Semenovich Kozlov, a master and true legend of Russian jazz. As the producing producer of the publishing label under this foundation, Big Nick made a particularly significant contribution to the popularization of the Arsenal group and the work of Alexei Kozlov, whom, by the way, I met back in 1977 in Kaluga, where our groups performed in one concert: “Arsenal” and “Integral”. We still communicate closely and are friends.
It seemed to me that nothing was impossible for Kolya in his work. I was convinced of this after one incident. He seemed to be more happy than me and heartily congratulated me when, after a meeting in Miami with Artie Kornfeld, co-founder of the legendary Woodstock rock festival, I received the right to this iconic brand in Russia. A unique case in history! No one had ever received such a right before me, anywhere or ever in the world. With Artie’s blessing, we organized the first Russian Woodstock in Tula, I once told ZD readers about this in detail in this column. Kolya, naturally, was amazed and responded with great pleasure to my request to participate in the historical event. He came with his vinyl collection, which undoubtedly added a splash of color to the festival.
Then Kolya began to slowly get me vinyl dedicated to Woodstock. The highlight of my collection was the Woodstock 50th Anniversary Limited Edition, which I still have in an unopened box. This record was released in very limited quantities, it was almost impossible to purchase, but thanks to Kolya it is now a real pearl of my collection. I do not open this extraordinary box of vinyl, although the desire to get acquainted with its contents, as any true music lover will understand, is very great.
Kolya’s departure was a huge loss for the musical culture and music industry of Russia. With his passing, a whole cultural layer and a real era passed away! I will always remember you, Big Nick, my dear friend!
Newspaper headline:
An unopened gift from rock polymath Big Nick
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