Art Themen

Art Themen
Themen performing in 2009
Background information
Birth name	Arthur Edward George
Born	(1939-11-26) 26 November 1939 (age 77) Manchester, England United Kingdom
Genres	Jazz
Occupation(s)	Musician, surgeon
Instruments	Saxophone
Associated acts	John Critchinson, Jack Bruce, Alexis Korner, Stan Tracey

Arthur Edward George "Art" 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."

Themen was born in Manchester, England, where he was involved with the traditional jazz scene in the late 1950s as a self-taught musician. In 1958 he began his medical studies at the University of Cambridge, going on in 1961 to complete his studies at St Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, qualifying in 1964. He specialised in orthopaedic medicine, eventually becoming a consultant.

Themen started playing jazz with the Cambridge University Jazz Group – with bandmates including Lionel Grigson, Dave Gelly and Dick Heckstall-Smith – and then in London playing with blues musicians Jack Bruce and Alexis Korner. In 1965 he 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 Nat Adderley, Red Rodney, George Coleman, and Al Haig.