On Wednesday, Jan. 8, the Burlington, Vt. music scene and broader jam community lost an esteemed participant and lifetime advocate with the passing of Sergei Ushakov. Ushakov was a familiar face among Burlington artists and concertgoers, best known for his tremendous efforts as the sound engineer for Club Metronome and legendary jam haven Nectar’s for more than 30 years. Beyond his masterful hand in fine-tuning the sound of countless acts, Ushakov was well known for his singular character, which balanced an unreserved, even gruff honesty with a deep care for his collaborators and commitment to perfecting every performance he worked. Ushakov was 65. Ushakov was born and raised in Yaroslavl, Russia, Burlington’s former sister city on the banks of the Volga River, perSeven Days. He played drums and guitar for classic rock cover bands in his youth, then played trumpet in the army band during his two mandatory years of military conscription in Armenia during the late ‘70s. After returning home and taking up the drums in a rock outfit called Telephone, Ushakov was thrown into the world of sound engineering when the scheduled technician was absent for a festival booking.
“Somebody made a joke: ‘Hey, Sergei. You wanna do sound?’” Ushakov reflected in an interview with Seven Days. “I’d never done it, but I said I’d try it. And I fell in love with the sound.” The new engineer learned the tricks of the trade while working assembly for aerospace equipment in a military factory, granting him a thorough understanding of the ins and outs of music technology. “I was learning the sound business and electronics at the same time,” he detailed. “So I started building my own sound equipment, circuit boards, speakers.”
A chance crossing with Burlington legends Big Joe Burrell and the Unknown Blues Band on a Russia tour led to Ushakov’s first excursion to the US for the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival in 1992. He returned a year later following a romance with another Burlington artist, and settled in the city permanently after that flame had faded. After a year of working with a local electronics company and moonlighting as a part-time engineer for several small stages, Ushakov received an offer to work the sound board full-time at Club Metronome from former owner Anne Rothwell in 1994. Ushakov held that position through to his sudden passing, and quickly earned a reputation as the best sound technician in Burlington. Before long, he found another full-time station at Nectar’s. When he wasn’t on the road, working on national tours for the likes of Pork Tornado and The Samples, he found a home at the fan-favorite venue that famously provided a springboard for Phish…