Arthur Edward George Themen (born 26 November 1939) is a British jazz saxophonist and formerly orthopaedic surgeon. Critic John Fordham has described him as "an appealing presence on the British jazz circuit for over 40 years.... Originally a Dexter Gordon and Sonny Rollins disciple ... Themen has proved himself remarkably attentive to the saxophone styles of subsequent generations."

Life and career

Themen was born in Manchester, England, where he was involved with the traditional jazz scene in the late 1950s as a self-taught musician, having started playing clarinet as a schoolboy at Manchester Grammar School.

In 1958, Themen matriculated at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he studied the natural sciences tripos. There, he started playing jazz with the Cambridge University Jazz Band – with bandmates including Lionel Grigson, Dave Gelly, George Walden, Jonathan Lynn and John Hart – the group under pianist Grigson's leadership achieving "near professional standard with a swinging hard-bop style that swept the board in the fiercely contested Inter-University Jazz Band Competitions".

In 1995, Themen formed a quartet with pianist John Critchinson.

Themen's style originally owed much to the influence of Dexter Gordon and Sonny Rollins, but later influences included such disparate saxophonists as Coleman Hawkins, Evan Parker, and the "sheets of sound" John Coltrane.

Following his retirement as a consultant orthopaedic surgeon, Themen has been focusing on his jazz career.

  • 2019: Thane & The Villeins - Art Themen Organ Trio with Pete Whittaker & George Double
  • 2022: Hanky Panky - Art Themen/Dave Barry Quartet (Trio Records)
  • 2022: Dizzy Moods - Art Themen Organ Trio with Pete Whittaker & George Double
  • 2023: Off Piste - Greg Foat and Art Themen
  • 2023: Art's Party - Art Themen and Friends
  • 2024: Live in Soho - Art Themen Organ Trio with Pete Whittaker & George Double

With Graham Collier

  • New Conditions (Mosaic, 1976)
  • Symphony of Scorpions (Mosaic, 1977)
  • The Day of the Dead (Mosaic, 1978)
  • Hoarded Dreams (Cuneiform, 1983 [2007])

References

  • Art Themen at BBC Music
  • Jack Kenny, "Art Themen at 80", Jazz Views, February 2020. Retrieved 28 January 2024.