I'm listening to one more for the road as I work here today. Gert brought it home last night and I was curious. The sun is shining again and the temperature is rising and this music suits the day perfectly.
Needing to know more about the harmonica playing Toots Thielemans who features on every track I went web-wandering and learned that Toots is Belgian, born in Brussels back in 1922. In 1952 he immigrated to the States and it seems the rest is history.
Quincy Jones said: 'I can say without hesitation that Toots is one of the greatest musicians of our time. On his instrument he ranks with the best that jazz has ever produced. 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 ...'
There were a few samples from the American press ... just to give you an idea.
SF Chronicle“An extraordinary improviser who can make the harmonica sing like Bird” “Nobody in Jazz plays melody with more grace and feeling than Toots Thielemans"
Washington Post
“This unassuming Belgian harmonica master “has wooed the world with a small instrument that, in his cupped hands at least, produces a hugely seductive sound”
Boston Globe
Jean Baptiste “ Toots” Thielemans is the “fountainhead of the modern jazz harmonica”
And so now you know ...
4 comments:
Toots rocks. He's also the most generous musician I've ever seen, with his fellow players, I mean. I sat him last summer - at Middelheim (how do you spell that?) actually, and was blown away by the glee he feels just listening to the young guys in his band take their solos.
You saw him!!!?
If he comes back, I'm going to see him. I love this cd. I've played it on and off most of today.
LOL, yes, if I could cure myself of this debilitating typo disease, you likely would have picked that up. But I saw him right by you--surely he'll be around for this summer's local jazz fests, too.
w-w if he's here this year, I would have to go ... I can't get enough of the cd and he seems like a character.
Typos, what typos? :)
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