As a clarinetist, Nick studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Antony Pay and Anton Weinberg. He was a founder member of the clarinet quartet No Strings Attached who performed regularly in many venues across Britain including the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room, Wigmore Hall, village halls, day centres, schools, hospitals and residential homes. The group toured Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Egypt and Jordan for the British Council, and broadcast for BBC Radio Three.  

Nick has performed with many contemporary music ensembles including Lontano, The Composers Ensemble and IXION, and has also given clarinet master classes at the Dartington International Summer School.

 As an improviser, Nick has performed jazz, free and hybrid styles in pubs and clubs across the country with Swoop, Fossil and City Garden and also performed with eminent jazz musicians such as Veryan Weston, Lol coxhill and Roger Turner. 

Between 1997 and 2002, Nick was a founder member and co-leader of the cutting edge big band iO, an ensemble of some twenty musicians of different musical disciplines, writing prolifically for the group: Dog Seven, 5thDimension, Lycilph Dream, Sometime Then, Which Way, Sid? and Nth Degree. Nick’s role was also to conduct rehearsals and performances.

 iO performed regularly at the Red Rose Club in London and also for the London Jazz Festival at the Purcell Room, South Bank Centre.