Julian became established when a tenor player in Loose Tubes, ‘perhaps the single-most influential collective of jazz musicians the UK has ever produced’. His own albums from that time have recently been reissued on vinyl. Julian learned clarinet at the John Roan School, Greenwich from 1976 to 1983 and continued when he went to York University. He studied saxophone with Tony Coe, Don Rendell, Bobby Wellins. Julian didn’t fit into the critics and promoters templates, necessarily, stylistically gravitating towards African rhythms with Western harmonies in his compositions, as well as the influence of folk music through artists such as John Surman, but he managed to pop up as a mainstream-to-modern freelancer with some of the legendary names of jazz from a very young age, as well as with reggae bands and on garage recordings.

Line Up: Julian Nicolas – sax, David Beebee – piano, Tobie Carpenter – guitar, David Whitford – bass, Eric Ford – drums