Frame and Curiosity

“a pan-European group of improvising musicians in 10 rhythmically complex, harmonically evocative compositions, all impeccably arranged. In these, they might reference Balkan tunes, rock, hip-hop, classical music or traditional jazz—without settling on any one thing.”
Downbeat (USA)”subtle touches of color and texture in his charts reminiscent of Gil Evans and Maria Schneider. Like them, Nikolov is inspired by the stirring sonorities of French horn, tuba, and accordion. But he blends Balkan metrical and tonal elements into his mix, and they introduce their own exotic aura. The Undectet has a new album, their second, Frame and Curiosity. This project should claim a place for Serbia among the most creative current large jazz ensembles in Europe.”
JazzTimes (USA)The Nikolov – Ivanovic Undectet is an 11 piece band lead by arranger, pianist and guitarist Vladimir Nikolov and drummer Srdjan Ivanovic. Friends from their music conservatory days, the duo had worked together in the past in bands and on film music and finally in 2017, came up with the idea of a band they could lead together that would be big enough for the arranger to be able to express many different colours and small enough to allow for the interplay of a small band. From that the Undectet was born, a band consisting of an atypical instrumentation: French horn, trumpet, tuba, trombone brass section, an alto, tenor, baritone saxophone section, a piano, bass, drums rhythm section and the accordion, in between those.The Undectet is releasing in December 2019 a new album, entitled Frame and Curiosity. The focus of this project is space as a term, and especially as a music event. A pleasant surprise on this new album came in the form of flutist Malik Mezzadri, known as Magic Malik, initially only invited as a guest for their performance at the Belgrade Jazz Festival, but upon realising the musical fit of Malik’s playing and sound with the Undectet, he became an important factor in the new album’s sound.

The Undectet is :

Magic Malik – flute
Luka Ignjatović – alto sax
Kristijan Mlačak – tenor sax
Đorđe Kujundžić – baritone sax
Marko Đorđević – trumpet, flugelhorn
Teodor Blagojević – french horn
Vladimir Vereš – trombone
Miloš Budimirov – tuba
Mihail Ivanov – bass
Noé Clerc – accordion
Vladimir Nikolov – piano, compositions/arrangements
Srđan Ivanović – drums, compositions