Preview: The Francis Tulip Quartet @ The Globe Jazz Bar, Newcastle, Sat August 5.

(Preview by Steve T/photo collage from archives)

The conception of this band can be traced to the Early Bird Band, Jambone, the Durham Gala Big Band, and various jam sessions in and around the North East. An embryonic form was initially named the Matthew MacKellar Trio, but any one of these four musicians could give the band their name - it's already been touted as a super-group - but the accepted convention dictates guitar, piano, bass, drums.

Francis and Matthew have been the most consistently exciting young musicians since they emerged from under the mentorship of Paul Edis, but Michael Dunlop on bass has proved himself their equal following a year at the Guildhall, with Joel Brown the new whiz kid on keys.

Anybody who wasn't already convinced had their heads turned at Matthew’s leaving bash, where many have claimed it was the set of the night; no mean feat on a bill which included, among others, Paul Edis.   

It's fitting their inaugural full-length gig should be at the Globe, where Matthew has played many times, and who asked if a couple of his mates could sit in during the break. And the rest, as they say, is history. This just might be one to tell the grandkids about. 

Steve T.