Barbara Gracey Thompson

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(27 July 1944 – 9 July 2022) was an English

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

saxophonist, flautist and composer. She studied clarinet, flute, piano and classical composition at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

, but the music of

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...

and

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of br ...

made her shift her interests to jazz and saxophone. She was married to drummer

Jon Hiseman Philip John Albert "Jon" Hiseman (21 June 1944 – 12 June 2018) was an English drummer, recording engineer, record producer, and music publisher. He played with the Graham Bond Organisation, with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers and later for ...

Colosseum The Colosseum ( ; it, Colosseo ) is an oval amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum. It is the largest ancient amphitheatre ever built, and is still the largest standing amphitheatre in the world to ...

from 1967 until his death in 2018.

Career

Around 1970, Thompson was part of

Neil Ardley Neil Richard Ardley (26 May 1937 – 23 February 2004) was a prominent English jazz pianist and composer, who also made his name as the author of more than 100 popular books on science and technology, and on music. Early years Neil Ardley ...

New Jazz Orchestra The New Jazz Orchestra (NJO) was a British jazz big band that was active from 1963 to 1970. Neil Ardley recorded several more albums with many of the NJO's members, which were released under his own name. Origins and members The NJO was the off ...

and appeared on albums by Colosseum. Beginning in 1975, she was involved in the foundation of three bands: *

United Jazz and Rock Ensemble The United Jazz + Rock Ensemble (abbr. "United" or "UJRE") developed from a group of jazz musicians that was formed for a 1974 to 1975 television show of Süddeutscher Rundfunk (South German Broadcasting). Almost all future members of "United" ...

, a "band of bandleaders" with

Wolfgang Dauner Wolfgang Dauner (; 30 December 1935 – 10 January 2020) was a German jazz pianist who co-founded the United Jazz + Rock Ensemble. He worked with Hans Koller, Albert Mangelsdorff, Volker Kriegel and Ack van Rooyen and composed for radio, tel ...

(p),

Volker Kriegel Volker Kriegel (24 December 1943 – 15 June 2003) was a German jazz guitarist and composer who also an author and drew cartoons. He was a founding member of the United Jazz + Rock Ensemble. Biography Kriegel was born in Darmstadt on 24 Decem ...

(g),

Albert Mangelsdorff Albert Mangelsdorff (September 5, 1928 – July 25, 2005) was a German jazz trombonist. Working mainly in free jazz, he was an innovator in multiphonics. Early life Mangelsdorff was born in Frankfurt on September 5, 1928, as the son of the book ...

(tb),

Eberhard Weber Eberhard Weber (born 22 January 1940, in Stuttgart, Germany) is a German double bassist and composer. As a bass player, he is known for his highly distinctive tone and phrasing. Weber's compositions blend chamber jazz, European classical music, m ...

(b),

Ian Carr Ian Carr (21 April 1933 – 25 February 2009) was a Scottish jazz musician, composer, writer, and educator. Carr performed and recorded with the Rendell-Carr quintet and jazz-fusion band Nucleus, and was an associate professor at the Guildhall ...

(tp),

Charlie Mariano Carmine Ugo Mariano (November 12, 1923 – June 16, 2009) was an American jazz saxophonist who focused on the alto and soprano saxophone. He occasionally performed and recorded on flute and nadaswaram as well. Biography Mariano was born in ...

(sax),

Ack van Rooyen Ack van Rooyen (1 January 1930, The Hague – 18 November 2021) was a Dutch jazz trumpeter and flugelhornist. He was the brother of Jerry van Rooyen. Van Rooyen began playing with a military band as a teenager, touring bases in Indonesia. He the ...

(tp) and Jon Hiseman (dr). *Barbara Thompson's Jubiaba (9-piece Latin/rock band) including

Peter Lemer Peter Naphtali Lemer (born 14 June 1942) is an English jazz musician. He worked with the Pete Lemer Quintet, Spontaneous Music Ensemble, Annette Peacock, Harry Beckett, Gilgamesh, Baker Gurvitz Army, Seventh Wave, Harry Beckett's Joy Unlimited, ...

Roy Babbington Roy Babbington (born 8 July 1940 in Kempston, Bedfordshire, England) is a rock and jazz bassist. He became well known for being a member of the Canterbury scene progressive rock band Soft Machine. Biography Babbington started his musical career ...

, Henry Lowther, Ian Hamer,

Derek Wadsworth Derek Wadsworth (5 February 1939 – 3 December 2008) was an English jazz musician, composer and arranger. Early life Wadsworth was born in Cleckheaton, Yorkshire on 5 February 1939. His first instrument was the cornet and he started playing the ...

Trevor Tomkins Trevor Ramsey Tomkins (12 May 1941 – 9 September 2022) was a British jazz drummer best known for his work in a number of British bands in the 1970s, including Gilgamesh. Biography Tomkins was born in London and studied music at the Guildhall ...

Bill Le Sage William A. Le Sage (20 January 1927 – 31 October 2001) was a British pianist, vibraphonist, arranger, composer and bandleader. Early life Le Sage was born in London on 20 January 1927. His father, William (1899-1951) was a drummer and his tw ...

, Glyn Thomas. *Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia, a band with

(p), Billy Thompson (v), Dave Ball (b) and

on drums. She was awarded the

in 1996 for services to music. Due to

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

, which was diagnosed in 1997, she retired as an active saxophonist in 2001 with a farewell tour. After a period of working as a composer exclusively, she returned to the stage in 2003 for a tour with Colosseum. After she was hospitalised with atrial fibrillation, her attendance in an

accident and emergency department An emergency department (ED), also known as an accident and emergency department (A&E), emergency room (ER), emergency ward (EW) or casualty department, is a medical treatment facility specializing in emergency medicine, the acute care of pati ...

was featured in an episode of the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

fly-on-the-wall television documentary '' 24 Hours in A&E'' in October 2020. Thompson worked closely with

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948), is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 21 musicals, ...

on musicals such as ''

Cats The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of t ...

'' and ''

Starlight Express ''Starlight Express'' is a 1984 British musical, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Richard Stilgoe. It tells the story of a young but obsolete steam engine, Rusty, who races in a championship against modern engines in the hope of ...

'', his

Requiem A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead ( la, Missa pro defunctis) or Mass of the dead ( la, Missa defunctorum), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, ...

, and Lloyd Webber's 1978 classical-fusion album ''

Variations Variation or Variations may refer to: Science and mathematics * Variation (astronomy), any perturbation of the mean motion or orbit of a planet or satellite, particularly of the moon * Genetic variation, the difference in DNA among individuals ...

''. She wrote several classical compositions, music for film and television, a musical of her own and songs for the United Jazz and Rock Ensemble, Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia and her

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s an ...

Moving Parts. She was a regular, along with her husband drummer Jon Hiseman and bassist David "Dill" Katz in the underground "Cellar Bar" at

South Hill Park South Hill Park is a English country house and its grounds, now run as an arts centre. It lies in the Birch Hill estate to the south of Bracknell town centre, in Berkshire. History Construction by Watts The original South Hill Park mans ...

Arts Centre in

Bracknell Bracknell () is a large town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, the westernmost area within the Greater London Built-up Area, Greater London Urban Area and the administrative centre of the Bracknell Forest, Borough of Bracknell Forest. It l ...

during the late 1970s and 1980s. She played the incidental music in the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

police series ''

A Touch of Frost A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...

'', starring

David Jason Sir David John White (born 2 February 1940), known professionally by his stage name David Jason, is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Derek "Del Boy" Trotter in the BBC sitcom '' Only Fools and Horses'', Detective Inspector ...

. She also played flute on ''

Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds ''Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds'' is a studio double album by American-born British musician, composer, and record producer Jeff Wayne, released on 9 June 1978 by CBS Records. It is an album musical adapted from the sci ...

''.

Personal life

Thompson was married to Colosseum drummer

, from 1967 until his death in June 2018. The couple's son Marcus was born in 1972, and their daughter Anna (now known as singer/songwriter Ana Gracey) in 1975. Thompson died on 9 July 2022, aged 77, after having Parkinson's disease for 25 years.

Discography

19921123 barbara thompson ujre braunschweig

References

External links

Official site
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Barbara 1944 births 2022 deaths 20th-century English women musicians 21st-century English women musicians 21st-century saxophonists Alumni of the Royal College of Music Colosseum (band) members Deaths from Parkinson's disease English jazz composers English jazz flautists English jazz saxophonists Members of the Order of the British Empire Musicians from Oxford New Jazz Orchestra members People from Finchley United Jazz + Rock Ensemble members Women jazz saxophonists 20th-century flautists 21st-century flautists