Toots Thielemans
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Toots Thielemans
Dutch Bigband Contest 2006
Background information
Birth name
Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans
Born
29 April 1922 (age 89)
Brussels, Belgium
Genres
Jazz
Occupations
Musician, composer
Instruments
Harmonica, guitar, professional whistling
Years active
1949–present
Associated acts
Quincy Jones
Stevie Wonder
Website
Official site
Thielemans started his career as a guitar player. In 1949 he joined a jam session in Paris
with Sidney Bechet, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Max Roach and others. In 1949 and 1950 he
participated in European tours with Benny Goodman, making his first record in Paris with
fellow band member, tenor saxophonist Zoot Sims.[4] In 1951 he went on tour with Bobbejaan
Schoepen.
He moved to the US in 1952 where he was a member of Charlie Parker's All-Stars and
worked with Miles Davis and Dinah Washington. He played and recorded with Ella Fitzgerald,
Jaco Pastorius, Peggy Lee, The George Shearing Quintet, Quincy Jones, Oscar Peterson,
Bill Evans, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, The Happenings, Astrud Gilberto, Shirley Horn, Elis
Regina and others.[5]
A jazz standard by Toots Thielemans is "Bluesette" where he used whistling and guitar in
unison. First recorded by Toots in 1962, with lyrics added by Norman Gimbel the song became
a major worldwide hit. His harmonica playing can also be heard in movie scores such as
Midnight Cowboy, Jean de Florette, Sugarland Express, The Yakuza, Turkish Delight,
The Getaway, French Kiss, Dunderklumpen, and in various TV programs, including
Sesame Street, the Belgian TV series Witse, and the Dutch TV series Baantjer.
He composed the music for the 1974 Swedish film Dunderklumpen! in which he also
voiced the animated character Pellegnillot.
His whistling and harmonica playing can be heard on Old Spice radio and TV
commercials that have been made over the years. During the 1980s he performed with
bassist and composer/bandleader Jaco Pastorius in ensembles ranging from duet to the
Word of Mouth Big Band.[6] In 1983 he contributed to Billy Joel's album An Innocent Man,
and his trademark harmonica can be heard on "Leave a Tender Moment Alone." A year
later, he appeared on the Julian Lennon song "Too Late For Goodbyes" from the album
Valotte. In 1984, he recorded the final album of Billy Eckstine (I Am A Singer), featuring
very beautiful ballads and standards arranged and conducted by Angelo DiPippo. In the
1990s Thielemans embarked on theme projects that included world music. In 1998 he
released a French flavoured album titled "Chez Toots" that included the Les Moulins De
Mon Coeur (The Windmills of Your Mind) featuring guest singer Johnny Mathis. Apart from
his popularity as an accomplished musician, he is well liked for his modesty and kind
demeanor. In his native Belgium, he is also popular for describing himself as a Brussels
"ket", which means "street kid" in old Brussels slang. He received a joint honorary doctorate
from the Université Libre de Bruxelles and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium) and in
2001 Thielemans was ennobled a baron by King Albert II of Belgium.
In 2005 he was nominated for the title of The Greatest Belgian. In the Flemish version he
ended 20th place, in the Walloon version he ended 44th place. In October 2008, he was
honored with the 2009 National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Fellowship. On 23
January 2009, he joined Philip Catherine on stage at the Liberchies(Belgium) church in
memory of the 100th anniversary of Django Reinhardt's birth.
Influence
Thielemans may have had a significant impact on The Beatles, John Lennon in particular,
during the group's pre-fame formative years.[7][8][9] While performing in 1959 in Hamburg,
Lennon (sometimes with fellow Beatle George Harrison in tow) would often go over to the
club where Toots was performing (in a noontime residency) as a member of The George
Shearing Quintet. Lennon was evidently taken with Toots' harmonica playing and guitar
selection: an electric American made Rickenbacker with a short scale neck.
Based on the sound Lennon heard, he decided to purchase a natural alder wood
"alderglo" colored three pickup Rickenbacker 1958 model 325 Capri guitar with a
short scale as Harrison would recall to various interviewers many years later.
This guitar, often fondly referred to as the "Holy Grail" of all guitars, was customized and
tinkered with many times over the years by Lennon and re-painted to jetglo black: it was
the guitar he played on The Beatles first and third appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show
during February 1964).[citation needed] Lennon also adopted the chromatic harmonica,
which was used on the group's early recordings.
Toots Thielemans (left) and Joe Marsala(right), ca. 1947. Photography by William P. Gottlieb.
Toots at La Brasserie 1975
Major works include:
The Sound (1955, Columbia)
Man Bites Harmonica (1958, Riverside Records)
Only Trust Your Heart (1988, Concord Records)
Footprints (1991, Universal)
The Brasil Project (1992, BMG)
The Brasil Project vol 2. (1993, BMG)
Compact Jazz (1993, Verve)
East Coast, West Coast (1994, Private Music)
Aquarela do Brasil (1995, Universal)
Chez Toots (1998, Windham Hill)
The Live Takes, volume 1 (2000, Quetzal records)
Hard to Say Goodbye, the very best of Toots Thielemans (2000, Universal)
Toots Thielemans & Kenny Werner (2001, Universal)
One More for the Road (2006, Verve)
Live at the North Sea Jazz Festival, 1980, (1980, Pablo Records)
