Biography
Born Arthur Edward George Themen on 26 November 1939 in Manchester, England, he mastered music independently and performed on tenor saxophone in a university jazz ensemble while completing medical studies at Cambridge. Following qualification as a physician, he settled in London and, during the early 1960s, appeared with assorted blues and R&B outfits while also serving in backing units for numerous pop dates. Among the artists he supported in that period were Alexis Korner, Phil Seamen, Dick Heckstall-Smith, Rod Stewart, Joe Cocker, and Long John Baldry. Toward the end of the 1960s and into the early 1970s his emphasis moved toward jazz, resulting in work with Barbara Thompson, Michael Garrick, Henry Lowther, and Graham Collier. In 1974 he began an extended and especially rewarding collaboration with Stan Tracey that lasted into the 1990s. He likewise accompanied numerous American jazz visitors, among them Al Haig, Red Rodney, George Coleman, and Nat Adderley. A distinctly personal manner of playing defines Themen’s performances, and had he elected to make music his sole profession he would surely have attained major international standing. That he reached his current level of recognition in jazz while maintaining a medical career as a consultant surgeon demonstrates the breadth of his abilities.
Albums
