# Barbara Thompson (musician)

Barbara Gracey Thompson MBE (27 July 1944 – 9 July 2022) was an English jazz saxophonist, flautist and composer. She studied clarinet, flute, piano and classical composition at the Royal College of Music, but the music of Duke Ellington and John Coltrane made her shift her interests to jazz and saxophone. She was married to drummer Jon Hiseman of Colosseum from 1967 until his death in 2018.

## Career

Around 1970, Thompson was part of Neil Ardley's New Jazz Orchestra and appeared on albums by Colosseum. Beginning in 1975, she was involved in the foundation of three bands:
* United Jazz and Rock Ensemble, a "band of bandleaders" with Wolfgang Dauner (p), Volker Kriegel (g), Albert Mangelsdorff (tb), Eberhard Weber (b), Ian Carr (tp), Charlie Mariano (sax), Ack van Rooyen (tp) and Jon Hiseman (dr).
* Barbara Thompson's Jubiaba (9-piece Latin/rock band) including Peter Lemer, Roy Babbington, Henry Lowther, Ian Hamer, Derek Wadsworth, Trevor Tomkins, Bill Le Sage, Glyn Thomas.
* Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia, a band with Peter Lemer (p), Billy Thompson (v), Dave Ball (b) and Jon Hiseman on drums.
She was awarded the MBE in 1996 for services to music. Due to Parkinson's disease, 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 was featured in an episode of the Channel 4 fly-on-the-wall television documentary 24 Hours in A&E in October 2020.
Thompson worked closely with Andrew Lloyd Webber on musicals such as Cats and Starlight Express, his Requiem, and Lloyd Webber's 1978 classical-fusion album Variations. 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 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 Arts Centre in Bracknell during the late 1970s and 1980s.
She played the incidental music in the ITV police series A Touch of Frost, starring David Jason. She also played flute on Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds.

## Personal life

Thompson was married to Colosseum drummer Jon Hiseman, 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.
An autobiography, Journey to a Destination Unknown, was published in 2020. Thompson died on 9 July 2022, aged 77, after having Parkinson's disease for 25 years.

## Discography

| Year | Album | Performer |
| 1966 | The Man Who Took the Valise Off the Floor of Grand Central Station at Noon | The She Trinity |
| 1968 | Angle | Howard Riley Trio |
| 1969 | Valentyne Suite | Colosseum |
| 1970 | Daughter of Time | Colosseum |
| 1970 | Michael Gibbs | Michael Gibbs |
| 1971 | Little Big Band | Keef Hartley Band |
| 1973 | The Beginning – Vol. 6: Keef Hartley Band | Keef Hartley Band |
| 1973 | Mike Taylor Remembered | Jon Hiseman, Neil Ardley, Ian Carr etc. |
| 1976 | The Roaring Silence | Manfred Mann's Earth Band |
| 1976 | Kaleidoscope of Rainbows | Neil Ardley |
| 1977 | Live in Schuetzenhaus | United Jazz + Rock Ensemble |
| 1977 | NDR Jazzworkshop '77 | Various Artists |
| 1978 | Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia | Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia |
| 1978 | Barbara Thompson's Jubiaba | Barbara Thompson |
| 1978 | Variations | Andrew Lloyd Webber |
| 1978 | Harmony of the Spheres | Neil Ardley |
| 1978 | Teamwork | United Jazz + Rock Ensemble |
| 1979 | Wilde Tales | Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia |
| 1979 | Tell Me on a Sunday | Marti Webb |
| 1979 | The Break Even Point | United Jazz + Rock Ensemble |
| 1980 | Live in Concert | Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia |
| 1980 | Chance | Manfred Mann's Earth Band |
| 1981 | Cats | Andrew Lloyd Webber |
| 1981 | Live in Berlin | United Jazz + Rock Ensemble |
| 1981 | Zwischenbilanz – Das Beste aus den Jahren 1977 –1981 | United Jazz + Rock Ensemble |
| 1982 | Mother Earth | Barbara Thompson |
| 1982 | Ghosts | Barbara Thompson/Rod Argent |
| 1983 | Cool Cat | Jeff Wohlgenannt and Friends |
| 1983 | Requiem | Andrew Lloyd Webber |
| 1984 | Pure Fantasy | Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia |
| 1984 | United Live Opus Sechs | United Jazz + Rock Ensemble |
| 1985 | Frauen – Power | Various Artists |
| 1985 | Shadow Show | Barbara Thompson/Rod Argent |
| 1985 | Live im Berliner Metropol – Theater | Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia |
| 1986 | Heavenly Bodies | Barbara Thompson |
| 1986 | Ganz schoen heiss, Man! About Time Too! | Jon Hiseman |
| 1987 | Highlights II | United Jazz + Rock Ensemble |
| 1988 | A Cry from the Heart | Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia Live in London |
| 1990 | Songs from the Center of the Earth | Barbara Thompson |
| 1991 | Perspective '92 | Various Artists |
| 1991 | Breathless | Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia |
| 1992 | Round Seven | United Jazz + Rock Ensemble |
| 1993 | Everlasting Flame | Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia |
| 1995 | Barbara Song | Barbara Thompson and the Medici String Quartet |
| 1995 | Lady Saxophone | Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia |
| 1996 | Die Neunte von United | United Jazz + Rock Ensemble |
| 1996 | Women's Music from Celestial Harmonies | Various Artists |
| 1998 | Shifting Sands | Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia |
| 1998 | The Sound Inside / Music and Architecture | Various Artists |
| 1999 | X | United Jazz + Rock Ensemble |
| 2000 | Thompson's Tangos and Other Soft Dances | Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia |
| 2001 | Cuff Clout | Kate Westbrook and Mike Westbrook |
| 2003 | In the Eye of a Storm | Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia |
| 2004 | 2006 | Manfred Mann '06 with Manfred Mann's Earth Band |
| 2005 | Never Say Goodbye | Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia |
| 2007 | Live 05 | Colosseum |
| 2011 | George Martin Presents | Barbara Thompson |
| 2014 | Live '05 (DVD) | Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia |
| 2014 | Time On Our Side | Colosseum |
| 2015 | The Last Fandango | Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia |
| 2021 | Bulletproof | Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia with National Youth Jazz Orchestra |

## Compositions

| Year | Album | Performer |
| 2006 | Three Quartets | The Apollo Saxophone Quartet |
| 2012 | Perpetual Motion | The Apollo Saxophone Orchestra |