Jazz legend Toots Thielemans dies at 94
Musician called ‘a true poet of melody’
Toots Thielemans, a jazz harmonica player, guitarist and whistler whose 1961 composition “Bluesette” became a jazz standard, has died, The Associated Press reported Monday. He was 94.
Belgian broadcaster RTL reported that his manager, Veerle Van de Poel, said that “there were no complications. He died of old age; his body was simply worn out.”
Van de Poel could not be reached immediately for confirmation.
Thielemans was hospitalized last month after a fall and reportedly died in his sleep.
Considered the jazz world’s only true harmonica master, Thielemans was also acknowledged for his fine guitar playing and his unusual technique of whistling in sync with his jazz guitar improvisations.
Thielemans’ improvisational style, on harmonica or guitar, was melodically oriented, avoiding technique for its own sake, always in search of a place he often described as somewhere “between a smile and a tear.”
“Sometimes, I play a pretty ballad and I almost cry myself,” he told The Times in 1992. “That’s my nature. Where do you think the blues, or ballads, the good songs, come from? They didn’t come out of a belly laugh … or a military salute.”
Guitarist Pat Metheny, who featured Thielemans on his 1992 album “Secret Story,” agreed, describing him as “a true poet of melody.”
It was a quality that served him well over the years. In addition to his numerous jazz affiliations, Thielemans can be heard on the film soundtracks to “Midnight Cowboy,” “Sugarland Express,” “French Kiss,” the 1972 version of “The Getaway” and others, as well as commercials for Firestone, Singer, Old Spice and almost any musical environment calling for an atmospheric harmonica.
Unknown to most of the children watching, it is Thielemans’ warm sound that is heard playing the melody in the “Sesame Street” theme song.
His composition “Bluesette,” recorded in Stockholm, has become a jazz classic, despite its unusual sound and its waltz rhythm. “If there’s a piece of music that describes me, it’s that song,” Thielemans told the Associated Press in 1992. “It contains the roots where I was born — the musette, a sort of waltz. There’s not a blue note or syncopation in the melody, yet it’s a blues.”
In addition, the original recording features the 3/4 melody played by Thielemans’ guitar blending in unison with his whistling, an octave higher. The decision to do so, he explained to The Times, was completely spontaneous.
“I went into a studio and started to rehearse it on harmonica, but the producer said, ‘Toots, that’s a pretty song. Why don’t you try to whistle it and play it on guitar?’ ”
The record became an international hit, and the unique appeal of Thielemans’ guitar and whistling sound became in demand on studio dates.