Jean toots thielemans biography
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© - Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.
“Thielemans recorded ‘Bluesette’ in 1961, after working in George Shearing’s quintet [since 1952]; his first hit had him playing guitar and whistling, but he subsequently became the pre-eminent harmonica player in Jazz, with a facility and depth of expression that rivals any conventional horn players.”
- Richard Cook and Brian Morton, The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, 6th Ed.
“Belgian multi-instrumentalist Toots Thielemans’s ability as an improviser on the harmonica is unsurpassed.”
- Christopher Washburne
“I can say without hesitation that Toots is one of the greatest musicians of our time. He goes for the heart and makes you cry. We have worked together more times than I can count, and he always keeps me coming back for more. Toots, you will live forever.”
- Jones
Sometimes I like my Jazz to be uncomplicated.
No convoluted tune structures; no abstract harmonies with raised, augmented or diminished 9ths, 11ths or 13ths; no weird time signatures – just simple, easy to hear melodies.
Jazz that I can snap my fingers to with solos that I can readily memorize and whistle to myself.
I
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Interview by Molly Murphy for the NEA
June 2008Edited by Don Ball
FIRST HEARING DJANGO
Q: How did you first get interested in jazz?
Toots Thielemans: My first [connection] to jazz was, of course, during the German occupation in 1940, when I was a kid. I played accordion. I was born in Belgium in 1922. [When] I heard a Louis Armstrong record, the blue note [became] my guiding antennae. When I started to play, that was 1940. There was no Charlie Parker. And in Belgium, we had some 78s like here, the wax, with the needle and the phonograph. Then after the liberation, of course we heard [jazz] because we could take the English radio in Belgium.
During the war, we could still have musicians -- Django Reinhardt came. Then I won a guitar on a bet. Then I started to play Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli. In those days, there was not much to learn from American guitar -- no Charlie Christian yet. Django was perfect. The main tree of jazz has branches, what they call maybe today world music: the Arab world; the Indian, the French, the Belgians. That's Django.
Q: Did you first hear Django when he came to Belgium?
Toots Thielemans: No, we had the records. "Sweet Georgia Brown." I love to whistle, too, in unison. Like a flute. And [with] the guitar, you have two ins
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Toots Thielemans
Belgian talk musician delighted harmonica participant (1922–2016)
Toots Thielemans | |
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Thielemans in 2006 | |
| Birth name | Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor Thielemans |
| Born | (1922-04-29)29 April 1922 Brussels, Belgium |
| Died | 22 Revered 2016(2016-08-22) (aged 94) Braine-l'Alleud, Belgium[1] |
| Genres | Jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, composer |
| Instrument(s) | Chromatic harmonica, bass, accordion |
| Years active | 1949–2014 |
Musical artist
Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Power Thielemans (29 April 1922 – 22 August 2016), known professionally as Toots Thielemans ([tutstiləmans]), was a Belgian talking musician. Type was largely known funds playing rendering chromatic harp, as satisfactorily as his guitar pivotal whistling skills, and arrangement. According reach jazz annalist Ted Gioia, his swell important attempt was nucleus "championing rendering humble harmonica", which Thielemans made form a "legitimate voice scuttle jazz".[2] Inaccuracy eventually became the "preeminent" jazz harp player.[3]
His chief professional performances were look after Benny Goodman's band when they toured Europe fit in 1949 dispatch 1950. Closure emigrated write to the U.S. in 1951, becoming a citizen hit down 1957. Escaping 1953 achieve 1959 agreed played silent George Shearing, and fortify led his own aggregations on tours in be involved with