Jazz harmonica great
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 movies and the theme for TV’s “Sesame Street,” died in his sleep in a Belgian hospital on Monday, his manager said. He was hospitalized last month after a fall but had been in good spirits after an operation on his shoulder.
“He was so happy. He was doing well,” manager Veerle Van de Poel said.
“We were very surprised” by his passing, she said. “He was sleeping, and he did not wake this morning.”
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, among many others.
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 AP 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’ Marolles neighborhood.
He was ennobled by Belgium’s King Albert II with the title of baron in 2001 and received the U. S. National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters award in 2009, the nation’s highest jazz honor.
Belgium’s royal family said it was “deeply moved by ( the) passing away of Toots Thielemans, one of the greatest jazzmen.”
“We have lost a great musician, a heartwarming personality. All my thoughts are with the family and friends of Toots Thielemans,” Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel tweeted.