Born in 1944, died in 2022; Barbara Thompson was a British saxophonist, flautist and composer. She studied clarinet, flute, piano and composition at the Royal Academy of Music in London and turned there to jazz. She played in the United Jazz + Rock Ensemble and in Colosseum and in 1975 founded her own group Paraphernalia. Alongside her work as an improviser she wrote music for theatre, television and the concert hall, among it works for saxophone quartet and wind ensemble; for her services to music she was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire. In the Cybele catalogue her music is heard on The Invitation – Saxophone Quartets of the 20th Century (2007), recorded by the Tetraphonics Saxophone Quartet.
Barbara Thompson
Composer
