Jean-Baptiste Frederic Isidor, Baron Thielemans, known professionally as Toots Thielemans, was a Belgian jazz musician.
26 Facts About Toots Thielemans
2.
Toots Thielemans was mostly known for playing the chromatic harmonica, as well as his guitar and whistling skills, and composing.
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Toots Thielemans emigrated to the US in 1951, becoming a citizen in 1957.
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Toots Thielemans recorded the soundtracks for The Pawnbroker, Midnight Cowboy, The Getaway, Cinderella Liberty, The Sugarland Express and Looking for Mr Goodbar.
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Toots Thielemans began playing music at an early age, using a homemade accordion at age three.
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Toots Thielemans played in two Silverio Pisu stories: Giacomino passerotto vagabondo and Manolo gattino sognatore.
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Toots Thielemans first heard the faster bebop style of jazz from records by Parker and Dizzy Gillespie after they had reached Belgium after the war.
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Toots Thielemans readily accepted the invitation and joined their tours in 1949 and 1950.
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Toots Thielemans moved to the United States in 1952 where he was a member of Charlie Parker's All-Stars and worked with Miles Davis and Dinah Washington.
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Toots Thielemans played the harmonica in much the same manner that many of the great jazz artists of that time played their respective instruments.
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Toots Thielemans recorded with singers and musicians including Ella Fitzgerald, Pat Metheny, Jaco Pastorius, Stephane Grappelli, JJ Johnson, Oscar Peterson, Shirley Horn, Joe Pass, and jazz pianist Bill Evans, among others.
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Toots Thielemans says that his recording with Evans's trio, Affinity, was one of his favorites.
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Toots Thielemans wrote "Bluesette," a jazz standard, which he performed on harmonica or while playing the guitar and whistling in unison.
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Toots Thielemans's closing theme to the popular Sesame Street television show was heard for 40 years.
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Toots Thielemans's music was heard on the Belgian television series Witse, and in the Netherlands, for the Baantjer program.
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Toots Thielemans's whistling and harmonica playing was heard on Old Spice commercials in the 1960s.
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Toots Thielemans played harmonica on "Night Game" on Paul Simon's 1975 album Still Crazy After All These Years.
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In 1998 he released a French-flavoured album titled Chez Toots Thielemans featuring guest singer Johnny Mathis.
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Toots Thielemans was well liked for his modesty and kind demeanor in his native Belgium, and was known for describing himself as a Brussels "ket," which means "street kid" in old Brussels slang.
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Toots Thielemans was nominated for the title of the Greatest Belgian in 2005.
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Toots Thielemans performed for the occasion and left the stage standing among his friends.
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Toots Thielemans died in Braine-l'Alleud, Belgium, at the age of 94.
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Toots Thielemans was buried on 27 August 2016 in La Hulpe, just outside Brussels.
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Toots Thielemans received a joint honorary doctorate from the Universite libre de Bruxelles and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium.
25.
In 2006, Toots Thielemans was honoured by an all-star tribute concert for him at Carnegie Hall.
26.
Toots Thielemans was celebrated by a Google Doodle on his 100th birthday, 29 April 2022.