Toots Thielemans, at 94; jazz harmonica virtuoso . By Lorne Cook and
Charles J. Gans Associated Press . BRUSSELS - Belgian musician Toots
Thielemans, who turned the lowly harmonica into a virtuoso jazz
instrument during an illustrious career that saw him perform with such
legends as Charlie Parker, has died. He was 94. Mr. Thielemans, who
also made a mark on pop culture with solos on movie soundtracks and the
theme for TV's "Sesame Street," died in his sleep in a Belgian hospital
on Monday, said his manager, Veerle Van de Poel. He was hospitalized
last month after a fall. Mr. Thielemans hung up his harmonica in 2014
as health problems made it more difficult for him to take to the stage.
Although his name wasn't widely known outside the jazz world, many
heard his harmonica playing, including generations of children who grew
up with the opening theme to "Sesame Street. His harmonica was also
prominently featured on movie soundtracks, including those of the
Oscar-winning "Midnight Cowboy," "The Pawnbroker," "Jean de Florette,"
and "The Sugarland Express. Also adept as a whistler, he could be heard
on the Old Spice after-shave commercials. He performed and recorded
with Benny Goodman, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson,
Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones, Paul Simon, and Billy Joel. Despite
suffering from asthma much of his life, Mr. Thielemans breathed
artistic life into an instrument many dismiss as a toy. In the jazz
world, he was the first to use the harmonica to blow complex bebop
lines. He played a custom-made Hohner chromatic harmonica - different
from the diatonic harmonica used by blues players - which has a slide
making it possible to play three octaves in all keys. "It's such a
freak of an instrument," Mr. Thielemans said in a 1992 Associated Press
interview. "There's technical obstacles to how fast and legato you can
play. . . . What I've spent my time on is to try to find things that
are playable on the instrument. This is not a good instrument but I
blow my brains out on it. His zest for life was apparent in his only
major hit that moved into the popular mainstream - the upbeat
"Bluesette," which he first recorded in 1962, on which he showcased his
signature style of whistling and playing guitar in unison. "If there's
a piece of music that describes me, it's that song," he told the AP.
Mr. Thielemans was beloved in his native Belgium, not least because he
always took pride in his humble background growing up in Brussels's
Marolles neighborhood. He was ennobled by Belgium's King Albert II with
the title of baron in 2001 and received the US National Endowment for
the Arts Jazz Masters award in 2009, the nation's highest jazz honor.
"We have lost a great musician, a heartwarming personality," Belgian
Prime Minister Charles Michel tweeted. Born in Brussels on April 29,
1922, Jean-Baptiste Frederic Isidore Thielemans began playing the
accordion at age 3. He discovered jazz after the German oc'cup'ation
began in 1940. But after sitting in with combos, his friends advised
him to get "a real instrument. He taught himself to play guitar, mostly
by listening to records of the legendary Belgian-born Gypsy jazz
guitarist, Django Reinhardt. When he took out his harmonica again after
two years, Mr. Thielemans said, it was like discovering "an old friend.
In 1945, as he was making a name for himself as a guitarist in local
jazz clubs and dance halls, friends decided that his given name wasn't
hip enough. So he became "Toots. When the first bebop records by Parker
and Dizzy Gillespie reached Belgium in the postwar years, Mr.
Thielemans found his musical "prophets. In 1948, he made his first
visit to the United States, and stopped off in New York on his way
home. An agent heard him sitting in with Howard McGhee's band at a
local club, and a few months later, he received a letter at his
Brussels home, inviting him to join Benny Goodman's band. Union rules
prevented the Belgian from joining the clarinetist in New York, but he
appeared with Goodman's band in Europe in 1949 and 1950. Mr. Thielemans
moved to New York in 1952, getting a chance to play with Parker's
All-Stars. From 1953 to 1959, he played guitar and some harmonica with
pianist George Shearing's quintet, then one of the top jazz combos.
While with Shearing, he added whistling to his repertoire. His first US
album as a leader, "The Sound," came out in 1955. One of his favorite
records was "Affinity," a 1979 session on which he played with pianist
Bill Evans's trio. Since 1959, Mr. Thielemans led his own small groups
and toured internationally when not working in the studios. Although
mostly recording straight-ahead jazz albums, he released two albums in
the 1990s as "The Brasil Project," featuring prominent Brazilian
artists Dori Caymmi, Gilberto Gil, and Caetano Veloso.
