Art Themen Quartet

Art Themen - Sax 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. Themen matriculated at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, and it was there that 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." He played with blues musicians Jack Bruce and Alexis Korner, and was a member of Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated. Themen has said: "Alexis, being heavily into blues as well as taking in jazz influences like Charles Mingus, furthered my knowledge of music quite a lot." In 1965, Themen played with the Peter Stuyvesant Jazz Orchestra in Zürich, going on to play with such English luminaries as Michael Garrick, Ian Carr, and Graham Collier's Music. In 1974, Themen entered on what was to be one of his central musical relationships when he started playing with Stan Tracey, and he has played with all of Tracey's groups, touring with him all over the world as well as around the UK. Themen has also played and toured with visiting US musicians, including Charlie Rouse, Nat Adderley, Red Rodney, George Coleman, and Al Haig. He was featured in a profile on composer Graham Collier in the 1985 Channel 4 documentary Hoarded Dreams.