"I accept this distinction with pride and emotion. Born in Belgium 86 years ago, I played at music until I heard a Louis Armstrong record in 1940. That was instant contamination and Blue Note became my guiding antennae musically and personally."

Harmonica player, guitarist, and whistler Jean Baptiste "Toots" Thielemans has been credited by jazz aficionados as being among the greatest jazz harmonica players of the 20th century, improvising on an instrument better known in folk and blues music. Thielemans is known to audiences young and old: his harmonica heard on the Sesame Street theme and his whistling heard in an "Old Spice" commercial.

Thielemans learned to play the accordion at the age of three, took up chromatic harmonica at 17, and taught himself to play the guitar. Influenced by Django Reinhardt and Charlie Parker, he became interested in jazz. In 1950, Thielemans toured Europe as a guitarist with the Benny Goodman Sextet. He immigrated to the United States in 1952, getting a chance to play with Charlie Parker's All-Stars. His performance so impressed George Shearing that he invited Thielemans into his band, where he stayed until 1959.

In 1961, Thielemans composed and recorded "Bluesette" using unison whistling and guitar, and ever since has been greatly in demand -- particularly for his harmonica and his whistling -- on pop records and as a jazz soloist. Thielemans began freelancing, playing and recording with Ella Fitzgerald, Quincy Jones, Bill Evans, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Astrud Gilberto, and Elis Regina, among others. He also made prominent appearances on movie soundtracks, notably on The Pawnbroker, Midnight Cowboy, and The Sugarland Express.

Thielemans has appeared as a leader of swing and bop quartets on recordings and at international festivals. At the Montreux International Jazz Festival, he recorded as a sideman with Oscar Peterson in 1975, then with Dizzy Gillespie in 1980. Thielemans' two-volume Brasil Project was popular in the 1990s and featured top Brazilian musicians.

A perennial winner of DownBeat readers' and critics' polls in the category "miscellaneous instruments," Thielemans was called "one of the greatest musicians of our time" by Quincy Jones in 1995. Thielemans has received many awards and titles, including the French Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres and honorary doctorates from both universities in the city of Brussels. In 2001, Belguim's King Albert II bestowed on him the title "Baron," making him Baron Jean "Toots" Thielemans.

Selected Discography

Man Bites Harmonica, Riverside/OJC, 1957-58
Do Not Leave Me, Vintage Jazz, 1986
Only Trust Your Heart, Concord Jazz, 1988
East Coast West Coast, Private Music, 1994
European Quartet Live, Challenge Jazz, 2006–08

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