Art Themen

Art Themen is a British jazz saxophonist who spent much of his working life as an orthopaedic surgeon. Born Arthur Edward George Themen in Manchester on 26 November 1939, he was a self-taught musician who began on clarinet at Manchester Grammar School and read natural sciences at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he played in the university jazz band. In 1961 he moved to St Mary's Hospital Medical School in Paddington and qualified in 1964, specialising in orthopaedic medicine and eventually becoming a consultant. He has said that he decided he could go on practising medicine while playing saxophone. In London he played with Jack Bruce and Alexis Korner, and from 1974 he began a long musical partnership with the pianist Stan Tracey, touring the world with his groups as well as playing with visiting American musicians. In 1995 he formed a quartet with the pianist John Critchinson. Critics describe a style that began with the influence of Dexter Gordon and Sonny Rollins and later took in Coleman Hawkins, Evan Parker and John Coltrane.