8.30 - 11.00pm
£6 on the door
Art Themen, orthopaedic surgeon (now retired) and illustrious
saxman, remains a firm favourite on the British jazz scene with a
pedigree as long as Southend Pier. Art was involved in the early British
blues movement with Alexis Korner’s All Stars, Jack Bruce’s Band and
Long John Baldry’s Hoochie Coochie Men. He has played and recorded with
the bands of Michael Garrick, Graham Collier, Don Weller and in 1974
began a long association with Stan Tracey. He also toured and recorded
with Charlie Parker alumni, Red Rodney and Al Haig. “Originally a Dexter
Gordon and Sonny Rollins disciple..Themen has proved himself remarkably
attentive to the saxophone styles of subsequent generations. The atonal
whirlings of Evan Parker are evident, alongside John Coltrane's sheets
of sound, and the full-bodied, vibrato-laden rhapsodising of long-gone
swing stars such as Coleman Hawkins” - John Fordham, The Guardian.
8.30 - 11.00pm
