Zaitsev, Nikita Vladimirovich

Early years

Born in Leningrad. My father was a design engineer and played the saxophone in a jazz orchestra, his mother worked as an engineer at the Krylov Institute . The elder brother went to mathematics school and went in for sports. At the age of six, at the insistence of a private teacher, his parents sent Nikita to a music school, to a piano class, but after listening to him, one of the best violin teachers in Leningrad at the time was taken - Semyon Khazanov. In addition to practicing music, from ten years to adolescence Nikita played hockey (forwards in the Dynamo team), and also played for the Sokol football team ^[3] .

I, in general, have never been in the world of a rock club, but I still knew everyone, through the same Boria Grebenshchikov , with whom we were almost neighbors. He lived from me somewhere in a pair of tram stops.

From the Moscow district where I lived, many famous people came out. For example, Sergei Kuryokhin lived literally opposite me. And we had such a tradition that everyone came to me and listened to records, because I had a large collection. In particular, Borya also came to listen or brought some of his own. Together we went to "seiches", where I played with St. Petersburg , and he also sang a few songs with a guitar.

- Nikita Zaitsev ^[4]

In November 1972, before a series of performances in the Lomonosov Manege, he appeared in the group “ St. Petersburg ”, before that he had played the year in Voenmeche with “Guslars” . In the summer of 1972, Nikita Zaitsev went to sports camps, but did not return to the group, and in October he was invited to “St. Petersburg” ^[5] . Nikita Lyzlov, a member of St. Petersburg, who became Nikita's curator, helped him prepare for school exams.

In December 1973, Nikolai Korzinin, Viktor Kovalyov and Nikita Zaitsev, having played the planned concerts and dividing the equipment, left St. Petersburg and, inviting Michael Michael Kordyukov to play the drums, organized the Big Iron Bell. They debuted in the new quality on December 25 on the stage of the Palace of Culture named after them Sverdlov ^[6] .

January 20, 1974 the group "BZHK" took part in the semi-underground rock festival in the Palace of Culture. Ordzhonikidze. In October 1974, through the LDHS line, they settled down to play at the dances in the cultural center of the village of Levashovo . In February 1975, Korzinin, Kovalev, Zaitsev, Olga Pershina and Rostislav Panfilov left Levashovo.

On March 17, 1975, the Big Iron Bell consisting of Korzinin, Kovalev, Zaitsev, Vladimir Kozlov (guitar, The Union of Rock Music Lovers) and Rostislav Panfilov (saxophone) perform in Tallinn in the official program of the Days of Youth Music, where it is filmed by local television . From March to May, they played dances at the Arctic Nautical School . On May 7, together with Aurora, they gave a concert at the House of Architects. In June 1975, the Big Iron Bell moved to Detskoselsky House of Culture in Pushkin , however, the conditions of the administration did not suit the musicians and, without performing there once, they moved to Pontonnaya, where they played until September.

In October 1975, the group, at the suggestion of Alexander Zlatkin, was determined to work in the Krasnoyarsk Philharmonic Society and for some time performed under the name of the Eniseysky Dawns VIA. In April 1976, they returned to Leningrad and settled down to play in the village of Kommunar near Pavlovsk . In August 1976, guitarist Boris "Bob" Belyavsky offered them work at a camp site on Mount Cheget . Later Nikita Zaitsev leaves the group, and it disintegrates ^[7] . He worked with pop singer Taisia ​​Kalinchenko , played in restaurants, collaborated with the musicians of the “ Good fellows ”.

At the end of 1977, Gennady Barikhnovsky, Yuri Bushev and Yuri Stepanov teamed up with Nikita Zaitsev and Nikolai Korzinin under the sign "Unofficial visit" (or "Mythical Bell"), but after its only concert, this supergroup broke up ^[8] .

1980s

In 1981, he played in the Stas Namin Group (guitar and violin) ^[9] . It was there that Zaitsev received an electronic violin from Frank Zappa ^[10] . Returning to Leningrad, he briefly spoke at the European Hotel, in the ensemble under the direction of Alexander Kolpashnikov. In the period from autumn 1985 to spring 1987 for drug possession (article 224 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR ) served time ^[11] .

In 1987, Nikita Zaitsev (solo guitar) took part in the recording of Nikolai Korzinin ’s solo album “Stones of St. Petersburg” ^[12] .

In the spring of 1987 joins the DDT. In addition to the lead guitar, he also played the violin. He met Yury Shevchuk in April-May 1987, meeting with drummer Igor Dotsenko on the recommendation of Gennady Barikhnovsky. ^[13] . ^[14] . According to the results of the rock festival in Chernogolovka on June 27–28, 1987, he was recognized among the best guitarists ^[15] .

In the late eighties, Zaitsev was involved in the revival of the groups “St. Petersburg” and “The Big Iron Bell” (called the “Immaculate Reserve”).

In October 1988, Korzinin and Zaitsev created The Immaculate Reserve ^[16] with the participation of Alexander Brovko (guitar, harmonica), Yuri Ivanenko (bass), Yuri Sokolov (drums), Yuri Zadorov (keyboards), having successfully performed at the rock festival of the magazine "Aurora" on the Elagin Island (1989). They occasionally gave concerts, made several rooms at the DDT studio and broke up in the spring of 1993.

The concert of “NZ” was rarely possible: “DDT” was actively traveling around the country at that time, so Zaitsev was permanently busy at the main place of work. In the early 1990s, two songs of the group came out on one of the plates of the so-called signal series, published by the St. Petersburg branch of the company " Melody ".

At the very end of 1992, when Zaitsev broke up with DDT, he and Korzinin reformed the Immunity Reserve. The new version of the band includes bass guitar player Sergey Berezovoy and drummer Alexander Yerin. The group rehearsed in the hall at the Volna pool on Moskovsky Prospekt and played several more concerts during the winter and spring, in particular, in February 1993, together with DDT, Alice and the Temple of Peace, took part in the concert in the " Jubilee " dedicated to the next anniversary of the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan . The preparation of the new repertoire of NZ has stalled due to problems with drugs and, as a result, Nikita Zaitsev's health. He ceased to appear at rehearsals, and soon the Immediate Reserve itself collapsed ^[17] .

Zaitsev played with DDT as a member of the group on the albums “ I Got This Role ” ^[18] , “The Thaw ” ^[19] , “ Plastun ” ^[20] , “ That's All ” ^[21] , “ World Number Zero ” ^[22] , " Snowstorm of August " ^[23] .

First half of 1990s

In 1990, Nikita Zaitsev attended a concert dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the group DDT, filmed on the video entitled “The Old Road”. ^[24] . Many years later, it was remade and released for the album “ Solitude II. Alive ”, it became known as the“ Cemetery ”, and Zaitsev’s violin was no longer there. In 1991, Zaitsev participated as a violinist and solo guitarist in the recording of the musical project of the former keyboard player of the group “Myths” Yuri Stepanov “Gypsy Love” ^[25] . This album was never released ^[26] , and Stepanov did not see the tracks on Zaitsev’s future memory, “ Follow Up, ” since he died on July 16, 2010 in Charing Cross Hospital in London from a transient and incurable disease.

In connection with health problems in the mid-1990s. Zaitsev for some time performed with DDT irregularly as a session musician.

Unfortunately, Nikita Zaitsev was fired from the group - it becomes impossible to work with him. The famous solo invented by him in the song “Last Autumn” was played on the recording by Sasha Brovko .

- Vadim Kurylev ^[27]

Zaitsev joins Alcoholics Anonymous and travels to the United States of the 12-step program ^[28] . In 1992, he participated in the recording of the album of the group “ Alice ” “ For those who fell from the moon ” (violin in the song “The Tent”) ^[29] .

In 1993, he accompanied the group of Valery Belinov, the Belinov Blues Band, during performances in St. Petersburg ^[30] .

July 1993. Nikita Zaitsev gives solo concerts in restaurants in Kaliningrad ^[31] . On December 23, 1993, as part of DDT, he played the violin at an acoustic concert at the Oktyabrsky Concert Hall ^[32] . In 1994, he was recruited as a violinist and soloist in the process of creating the DDT album “ It's All, ” performed the electric violin part in the songs “Four windows” and “White night” (second solo) ^[33] .

Second half of the 1990s

June 25, 1995, Nikita Zaitsev (violin) performed at a concert of the 15th anniversary of the DDT group at the Petrovsky stadium ^[34] . His game can be heard on the album "Peripherals" in the series "Reprinting XXI Century", at the end of the bonus track number 8 ^[35] .

In 1997, Nikita Zaitsev (guitars, violin), as the main arranger, took part in the recording of the album of the group “ St. Petersburg ” “Classics” ^{[36] [37]} . His guitar and violin performance is also present on the album “Live!”, Released by the label AnTrop in 2003 ^[38] . In addition, the violin and guitar on the album "Revolution" of 1997, reprinted in 2003 ^[39] .

In 1997, Zaitsev was invited to record the album Chizh & Co “Bombers”, the violin in the songs “Under the Stars of the Balkans”, “Bombers”, “Yellow Leaves” ^[40] .

At the festival "Rock Fuzz" '97 in St. Petersburg in the Palace of Sports "Jubilee" was part of the group " Colonel and fellow soldiers " ^[41] .

On November 21, 1997, Nikita Zaitsev played the violin in the songs “Beautiful Love” and “Leningrad” during Yury Shevchuk’s program “Acoustics” at the Oktyabrsky Concert Hall in St. Petersburg ^[42] .

Since 1995, Olga Pershina has created and released singles with Christmas songs for St. Petersburg radio stations (usually including two to three numbers). At first they sounded in English, but in 1998, Pershina returned to the Russian language. As before, many well-known musicians in the city, including Nikita Zaitsev ^[43], participated in the work on singles.

Together with Yuri Shevchuk, he traveled to some cities of Russia in the winter of 1998, within the framework of acoustic concerts “I got hold of this role” ^[44] .

In 1998, he was able to return to DDT and enter the new program “ World Number Zero ”, as well as the eponymous album, working closely with the group. Electro-violin sounds in the compositions “He”, “Musical image-2”, “Shot dawn” ^[45] . Shevchuk noted: “Nikita Zaitsev is again with us, and I hope, now forever. He is also responsible for figurative music with his violin ” ^[46] .

In the autumn of 1999, an attempt was made to record an album of the Kurylev Band at the DDT rehearsal studio at Tambovskaya , but due to the creation of the " Snowstorm of August " the process was interrupted, and after the spring of 2000, the move to a new base began. The equipment was dismantled, the multichannel recordings of Kurylev's songs were erased in the computer, there were a few rough versions of three or four songs. With the participation of Nikita Zaitsev, on a cassette tape, only the White Song record, which he managed to make, was preserved. In this avant-garde form, Kurylev did not include it in his work “ Wait for Godot ”, released in 2001.

In the last months of his life, Nikita Zaitsev performs as part of the Nikita Zaitsev Theater, created in Minsk, with Nikita Zaitsev Band ^[47] . December 2, 1999, presented his debut program "Five pairs of hands" as one of the leaders.

He collaborated with saxophonist Mikhail Kostyushkin, performed a program called “The Okkervil River ” - instrumental music, “fusion” with avant-garde elements ^[48] . He performed with Mikhail Suriin, who recorded the album "The Hound Dog". They played the music of Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Elvis Presley, Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana.

Recent performances

In 2000, Zaitsev was invited to record on the album Pushking "Keepers of the nature and art" ^[49] . This studio work was the last.

Some of his recent public appearances (along with Yuri Shevchuk and Vadim Kurylev as part of the DDT group (album “Songs for a friend. Part 2”, published in 2002 ^[50] ) and with Vladimir Rekshan and Yevgeny Voloschuk in the group “ St. Petersburg ”) were held on July 28, 2000 at the evening of memory of Andrey“ Dyusha ”by Romanov and on August 2, 2000 as part of the DDT group at the Yubileiny Sports Palace at a festive concert dedicated to the Day of the Airborne Forces ^[51] .

In August 2000, Nikita Zaitsev was taken to the 2nd multidisciplinary hospital in St. Petersburg with internal bleeding. According to DDT guitarist Vadim Kurylev, Zaitsev had a sore liver, but the doctors at the clinic, where the musician turned for help, could not give him a correct diagnosis and prescribe the necessary course of treatment. As a result, the disease was neglected. He did not have time to perform the operation - having stayed in the clinic one day, on August 23 Nikita Zaitsev died in resuscitation from hepatic coma ^[52] .

He was buried at Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery of St. Petersburg.

At the end of 2000, during the DDT concert program “20:00,” a five-minute memorial film about Nikita Zaitsev was shown. Without words, with music ^[53] . Above the dark scene are successive shots and the piercing sound of a violin ^[54] . Nikita’s violin will not sound at the anniversary concert; before he died, he dreamed of living to it ^[55] . Yuri Shevchuk: “We spent the last journey of a musician Nikita Zaitsev. At the concert we will talk, of course, about Nikita. Many people feel their own death in their hearts, and such a thing happened to him. Nikita recorded a magnificent album of instrumental music before his death - a combination of jazz and symphonic melodies. 45 minutes of serious, St. Petersburg music. And we will try to release this album now ” ^[56] . This promise was unrealizable.

In 2002, the film “ DDT Time ” appeared. Alena Vislyakova: “The most important thing, in my opinion, was that we were able to film an interview with Nikita Zaitsev, literally two months after this conversation that passed away, so that we in the last series had to make a page of his memory” ^[57] .

On February 5, 2006, a concert dedicated to the 50th anniversary of Nikita Zaitsev was held in the St. Petersburg club “Zorro” ^[58] . In 2006, the DDT Family commemorated by Nikita Zaitsev was published. It was composed of works by people who “served” DDT musicians at various times, from the very beginning of the group, and presented as authors and performers: Vladimir Sigachev , Rustem Asanbayev , Niyaz Abdyushev , Sergey Ryzhenko , Yuri Shevchuk , Vadim Kurylev , Andrey Vasilyev , Alexander Lyapin , Alexey Fedichev , Konstantin Shumaylov . The compositions “State of the Soul” with a sequence number belong to Zaitsev himself as a composer and arranger (violin, piano) ^{[59] [60]} .

The album, played by Nikita Zaitsev in 1999 and recorded by Vladimir Kuznetsov, contains eight instrumental tracks that do not have a name or even a finite form. Also, the album itself does not have a title and was not supposed to be a finished work, but it remained so ^[61] . ^[62] .

In 2006, the track “Korzinin & Kuryokhin & Zaitsev & Titov - All is for the best” ^[63] .

In 2008, Vadim Kurylev dedicated his album The Thin Game to the memory of Yuri Morozov and Nikita Zaitsev ^[64] .

In 2010, a collection of dedication to Nikita Zaitsev “ Nikita Zaitsev: Aftertaste ” was released, which included compositions by various musicians and groups with whom Nikita collaborated. The presentation took place on September 23 in the St. Petersburg club "Cheshire Cat", where Andrei Vasilyev and Vadim Kurylev played the song "There was no death" in memory ^[65] . This publication is not intended for wide distribution. The first disc contains studio recordings, for the most part officially released. The second disc is assembled from rare unpublished archival materials: fragments of the St. Petersburg group performance in 1972 ^[66] ; also recordings by Nikolai Korzinin, the Stas Namin band, concerts by the Heat Protection Committee , the Colonel and Brother-Alone, DDT, Kurylev Band (Zoo Club, 1999). The records of the jazz project of Mikhail Kostyushkin with Nikita Zaitsev ^[26] could not be found.

In 2011, Andrei Vasilyev’s instrumental memorial composition “11 years without Saltzman” appeared ^[67] .

In 2013, the album was announced Zaitsev, named the publisher "Now & Zen". The name is taken from the Robert Plant record. ^[68] .

Nikita Zaitsev, his life, care ... I still worry. He was, of course, a rare man and musician. And therefore, after his death, nobody still plays the violin here.

- Yuri Shevchuk ^[69]

That played Nikita Zaitsev in DDT. And no one knows. Everyone knows Yuri Shevchuk and that's it. On the one hand, he is a person; on the other hand, remember the same DDT, there were all individuals.

- Mikhail Vladimirov ^[70]

Musician to the bone, Nikita introduced many new words and expressions into the musical vocabulary of the DDT; out of doubt, especially in the early stages of the Petersburg period in the history of the group, his melodic flair, impeccable taste, talents of the improviser and delicate accompanist were one of the Elephants on whom the DDT Universe was based.

- Andrei Burlaka ^[71]

Nikita Paganini and Jimi Hendrix combined two great names and personalities in Nikita’s soul. It was difficult to keep all this expression in one body in our ruthless time. It burned down like a comet - no one had time to blink an eye! Not many can be committed to music to the end.

- Valery Belinov

Zaitsev is the person about whom you can write a book. This is not even in Hollywood blockbusters met. This is such a lump! When I was a man, he simply worked wonders. As a musician - by itself. He could bring to tears any thug by playing the violin. And not just a game. It was my second dad on tour. What I'm trying to do myself is a pathetic parody of Nikita Vladimirovich. Boulder and musician! A man, unfortunately, forgotten very quickly. I find it just wrong.

“DDT” practically kept on three pillars: Yura, Dots and Nikita, who rocked this project.

- Andrey Vasilyev ^[72]

Nikita Zaitseva, I also belong to the category of their teachers. The demonically beautiful spark of his psychedelic pain I saw many times when I played with him side by side in DDT. This man was a reckless genius. Drugs killed him before he had time to regret it. At the concerts, Nikita played the violin so that in five minutes only half of the hair remained on the bow. He lived the same way. By the age of 44, one hair remained on his bow. He could not otherwise - he broke up and his. With the death of Nikita, the era of "DDT" ended for me.

- Vadim Kurylev ^[73]

• 2006 - Origins (Supplement to the magazine FUZZ , № 1-2006)
• 2010 - Nikita Zaitsev: The Resonance
• 2013 - Now & Zen (Nikita Zaitsev and Vadim Kurylev)

Pushking

• 2000 - Keepers of the Nature and Art

Alice

• 1993 - For those who fell from the moon

Stas Namin Group

Studio

• 1982 - Minion (EP)

Compilations

• 1994 - Flowers
• 1995 - 1972-1979
• 2003 - Singles 1972-1979
• 2006 - Summer evening

DDT

Studio

• 1987 - I got this role.
• 1991 - The Thaw
• 1991 - Plastun
• 1994 - This is all ...
• 1998 - World number zero
• 2000 - August Blizzard
• 2003 - Solitude. Part II. Alive (posthumously)

Compilations

• 1991 - Once at the Rock Club . "Silver on pink"
• 1999 - Legends of Russian rock. DDT, part 1
• 1999 - whistled
• 2000 - Encyclopedia of Russian rock
• 2001 - 10 years of St. Petersburg rock club
• 2002 - Songs for a friend. Part 2
• 2004 - Grand Collection
• 2005 - XXV
• 2005 - Look on foot
• 2005 - Legends of Russian rock. DDT, part 2
• 2006 - DDT Family

Mitki

• 2002 - The Best
• 2003 - Revolution
• 2006 - The Mitkov Olympics Vol. four
• 2007 - Mitkovsky Olympiad Vol. five

Nikolai Korzinin

• 1987 - Stones of St. Petersburg

Vadim Kurylev

• 2001 - Wait for Godot (reprint, 2019)

Colonel and fellow soldiers

• 2003 - FUZZbox Vol.16 - FUZZ 1997 Prize

St. Petersburg

• 1997 - Classic
• 1997 - Revolution
• 2000 - The best of 1970-2000
• 2003 - Alive
• 2003 - Tanks rumbled across the field
• 2009 - Selected ^[74]
• 2009 - 1972th ^[75]

Chizh & Co

• 1997 - Bombers

Yuri Stepanov

• 1991 - Gypsy Love

Yuri Shevchuk

• 2001 - Two concerts. Acoustics

• 1987 - Concert in the House of Culture of the Shushary village ^[76]
• 1988 - Concert Film of the DDT Group - “The Thaw” ^[77]
• 1989 - Plastun (DDT Video Collection, 2004)
• 1990 - Old Road (a concert movie for the tenth anniversary of the DDT group)
• 1995 - From & To. Live (DDT Video Collection, 2004)
• 1997 - Yuri Shevchuk. Two concerts (DDT Video Collection, 2004)
• 1998 - World Number Zero (DDT Video Collection, 2004)
• 2000 - DDT - District city N. Concert, poems, interviews ^[78]
• 2001 - MP3 collection. DDT. Disk 1 (Born in the USSR, video 1991) ^[79]
• 2002 - DDT Time (group history 1980–2000)
• 2005 - I'm alive! (DDT 1987–2003 concerts)
• 2007 - Heat Protection Committee - Soon Summer (hard reggae) ^[80] . Record concert in 1997 in the St. Petersburg Rock Club. Series “Archive of Russian Rock”, volume 7.
• 2008 - DDT: The best clips (period 1987–2005)

• Nikita Zaitsev
• Nikita Zaitsev on the Discogs website.
• Soldatenkov N. Live quickly, die young // “ Arguments of the Week ”, No. 29 (520) of July 28, 2016.
• Nikita Zaitsev died // “ Kom-Gazeta - Vedomosti ”, No. 158 of 26—08-2000, line 009.

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