Nikola Spasojević
Jazz Instructor
Saxophonist and composer, Nikola Spasojević, brings an eclectic combination of influences to his improvisations and compositions expressed through the language of contemporary jazz. Nikola has studied jazz standards and jazz originals from different eras of the music’s history as part of his musical journey. Recently, he has been working on his own original music which fuses jazz and electronic music as well as the original music of his peers in various jazz and jazz fusion projects. Nikola has been inspired by many different musicians, but regarding saxophone playing, some of the key influences are John Coltrane, David Binney and Donny McCaslin.
Saxophonist and composer, Nikola Spasojević, brings an eclectic combination of influences
to his improvisations and compositions expressed through the language of contemporary
jazz. Nikola has studied jazz standards and jazz originals from different eras of
the music’s history as part of his musical journey. Recently, he has been working
on his own original music which fuses jazz and electronic music as well as the original
music of his peers in various jazz and jazz fusion projects. Nikola has been inspired
by many different musicians, but regarding saxophone playing, some of the key influences
are John Coltrane, David Binney and Donny McCaslin. Nikola began playing classical saxophone when he was just 9 years old in Subotica, Serbia and won several competitions including the International Saxophone Competition “Davorin Jenko” at Belgrade, and the Serbian Republic Saxophone Competition. In high school, he switched to jazz and began performing with his peers in Serbia. He played original compositions with the groups “Iz Principa” at well known Serbian jazz festivals like Nišville, Pančevo Jazz Festival and Jazzik in Subotica. He also sat in with the Novi Sad Big Band at the Novi Sad jazz festival, at the Serbian National Theatre.
Later, he moved to Rotterdam (NL) to pursue his undergraduate degree at Codarts University of the Arts. There he performed with various school ensembles including the Codarts Big Band with whom he performed at the Jazz International Rotterdam festival. He led his own groups, and he performed with one at the Brand New Jazz Festival at Lantaren Venster. Furthermore, he performed at Tivoli Vrendenburg in Utrecht last with the band Klankpoeder with which he later recorded an album entitled Vauwmakreel which was released in 2023. In 2022, Spasojevic moved to New York City to continue his studies at New York University. There he finished his master's in jazz performance. While at NYU, he has had the opportunity to perform at well-known venues like the Blue Note with the Dezron Douglas ensemble, the Frederick Loewe Theater with the NYU Jazz Orchestra and the Provincetown Playhouse with the David Liebman ensemble.
In 2025, he began his doctoral studies and work as a teaching assistant at Stony Brook University. He leads his own group and performs as a side man at a variety of clubs and bars around the city. Recently he released his first album as a band leader, Poor Man's Summer, which is out on all digital platforms!