[1] He also played in small groups with musicians such as Philly Joe Jones, Zoot Sims, Al Cohn, Red Rodney, Hampton Hawes, Nat Adderley, Al Haig, John Burch, Bill Watrous, and Dick Morrissey, Tony Kinsey, Bill Le Sage and singers such as Jimmy Witherspoon, Joe Williams, Jon Hendricks, and Anita O'Day.

Especially from the early 1990s, his style matured into a highly confident originality, going far beyond its initial Parker influences and absorbing harmonic and structural ideas from his favourite classical composer Bela Bartok.

The results of this development were heard especially on his albums Tamburello (recorded in 1994), Lush Life (recorded 1998) and Janus[4] with the Lyric String Quartet, which included a 1997 suite strongly influenced by Bartok and commissioned by Appleby Jazz Festival organiser Neil Ferber with funding from BBC Radio 3.

In April 2011, Northway published his autobiography Flying High, widely praised for its candour and honesty about his musical career and personal life, his international associations in the jazz world, and the many years in which he battled addiction.

[5] Among his other strong interests was Formula One motor racing and his 1994 album Tamburello contains a four-part composition that presents a tribute to Ayrton Senna.

[7] With Everything but the Girl With Georgie Fame With Maynard Ferguson With Tubby Hayes With Tony Kinsey With Colin Towns With Stan Tracey With Charlie Watts With others