Toots Thielemans retrospective

Hermine Duerloo, Laurent Maur and Alexandre Piret join me on episode 150, for a retrospective on the great Toots Thielemans. 

Toots was born in 1922 to humble beginnings, in Brussels, Belgium, where his parents ran a cafe. His first instrument was an accordion, which he started playing at age three and showed great promise. He took up guitar and the chromatic harmonica around the age of sixteen. He then went on to tour Europe with Benny Goodman in 1950 before moving to the US in 1951 where he landed a seat in the George Shearing Quintet, mainly as a guitar player, but also playing some songs on chromatic. 

Toots made his first solo albums from the late 1950s, including the iconic Man Bites Harmonica. From the 1960s Toots was in great demand as a session musician, recording with many giants of the music industry, such as Bill Evans, Paul Simon and Billy Joel. He also made some notable musical collaborations, including with Jaco Pastorius and Quincy Jones, and recorded on numerous film and tv scores, such as Midnight Cowboy and Sesame Street. 

Toots had such a long and glorious career that it’s hard to do it justice, but this episode attempts to highlight some of the key moments from the undisputed giant of the chromatic harmonica, and one who has inspired pretty much every chromatic player that has followed. 

Links:

Compilation of interviews with Toots put together by a Belgian DJ Nico Kanakaris: https://www.mixcloud.com/bluenote71/toots-thielemans-100/

Articles on Toots from Roger Trobridge's The Archivist site: http://www.the-archivist.co.uk/tag/toots-thielemans/

Videos:

The story of Toots Thielemans by Steven De Bruyn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar7CnZS0m0k

With Paul Simon in 1975: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8v2j4lJJZY&list=RDq8v2j4lJJZY

With Billy Joel in 1983: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Te0DB86-wY&list=RD6Te0DB86-wY

Three Views of a Secret live with Jaco Pastorius: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBhoDaS5SKQ&list=RDyBhoDaS5SKQ

Toots Thielemans 100th Anniversary Official Concert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4hqApO5BH8

Podcast website:
https://www.harmonicahappyhour.com

Donations:
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Spotify Playlist:
Also check out the Spotify Playlist, which contains most of the songs discussed in the podcast:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5QC6RF2VTfs4iPuasJBqwT?si=M-j3IkiISeefhR7ybm9qIQ

Podcast sponsors:
This podcast is sponsored by SEYDEL harmonicas - visit the oldest harmonica factory in the world at www.seydel1847.com  or on Facebook or Instagram at SEYDEL HARMONICAS
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Chapters

• 2:18 Hermine was interviewed on the podcast in July 2021, is from the Netherlands and has performed with Toots
• 2:42 Laurent appeared on the podcast in December 2022, is from France and Toots provided some feedback on a demo album of his
• 3:09 Alexandre Piret is from Belgium, works as a musicologist and researcher at the Universities of Liege and Brussels, and is writing a PhD on Toots
• 3:57 Alexandre never had the chance to meet Toots but has been in contact with lots of his family members and associates
• 4:31 Hopes that the research he is conducting as part of his PhD could become a biography on Toots
• 5:49 Alexandre has already published two academic papers about Toots: Little Things Mean a Lot’: Understanding the ‘Genius’ of Toots Thielemans through an Organological Examination of the Chromatic Harmonica Playing and Toots Thielemans’ Notebooks as a Place o
• 6:14 More on Toots’s study notebooks that Alexandre has been able to study after Toots donated them to the national library of Belgium
• 7:56 The documents are from the 1940s and show how a young Toots studied jazz in an era before mass jazz education was available
• 9:22 Alexandre is from Belgium and explains how Toots was a national icon in the country
• 11:18 Toots was made a Baron by the king of Belgium
• 12:06 There is a new metro line being built in Brussels and one of the stations might be called ‘Toots Thielemans’
• 12:42 Hermine tells us how Toots was a very well known figure in the Netherlands, particularly in the older generation, who heard him a lot on tv, radio and films
• 13:08 A film from the Netherlands which Toots was well known for playing on was Turks Fruit
• 13:32 In France the older generation knew him, but many would not know he was the person behind all the recordings and sessions
• 14:10 Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor Thielemans was his full name and he was born on April 29th 1922 in Brussels where his parents owned a cafe
• 14:59 Descendants may have worked as carpenters, which is what the name Thielemans means
• 15:09 Toots first instrument was the accordion, which he began playing aged three, and he was a gifted player, winning an award at age seven
• 16:17 Hermine says Toots was known as Little Mozart from his accordion playing and the influence of his accordion playing on his harmonica playing
• 16:56 Started playing the chromatic aged 15 or 16 after seeing Larry Adler playing in a film (not known which film)
• 17:37 Playing harmonica was a common hobby in the late 1930s, with many of the friends of Toots also playing
• 18:13 Toots started playing guitar around 1941-2 after he won it from a bet with his friend
• 20:24 His first professional gig was as a guitar player, with George Shearing, and the harmonica was only used sparingly
• 21:41 The chromatic harmonica was still quite a new (1910) instrument when Toots was playing it in the late 1940s / early 1950s, and he found his own way to play jazz on it
• 22:32 Max Geldray was a good Dutch jazz chromatic player who pre-dated Toots, and ‘novelty’ players like Borrah Minnevitch
• 23:21 Toots was certainly one of the first, if not the first, to pioneer modern jazz harmonica
• 23:50 His first amateur band was Le Jazz Hot around 1946
• 24:47 American jazz musicians were touring Europe at that time, which likely influenced Toots
• 25:35 An excellent compilation album covering the span of Toot’s career is ‘Yesterday & Today’ which includes the song Jazz Band Ball from 1946, which could be his first recording
• 26:38 Alexandre discusses Toots first recording being perhaps from 1949 following a Paris jazz festival, where Toots possibly played with Charlie Parker
• 27:42 Toots definitely did meet Charlie Parker in Sweden in 1950
• 28:32 First recording on harmonica is possibly Red Devils Boogie, recorded in 1949, when he was 27 years old
• 29:50 First played with Benny Goodman in Europe in 1950, after not being able to play with him in the US as Toots couldn’t obtain a Green Card at that time
• 31:53 When first playing with Benny Goodman in London the agreement with the UK authorities was that he could only play harmonica (not guitar) as an ‘entertainer’
• 32:41 His big break was the gig with George Shearing, which lasted for six years
• 33:34 Toots spent a year in New York before landing the gig with George Shearing
• 34:51 Made first recording in the US in 1952, a song called Dynamite, with Dick Hyman on organ and Harry Reser on banjo
• 35:15 Made his first solo album in 1955: The Sound
• 36:07 Became a US citizen in 1957 and travelled between his homes in Brussels and Long Island
• 36:44 Released the iconic album, Man Bites Harmonica in 1958, and discussion on the old harmonica on the album cover
• 37:56 The Man Bites Harmonica album was released around the end of the time he spent playing with George Shearing, deciding to become a studio musician after six years of heavy touring with George Shearing
• 39:28 Made an advertisement for Old Spice aftershave on which he whistled, so was paid as an actor rather than as a musician
• 40:04 The original version of Bluesette (1962) had Toots whistling, not playing the harmonica, with Toots encouraged to record the track by Stephane Grappelli
• 41:00 Bluesette was a great success for Toots, with many other jazz musicians recording versions
• 42:34 Recorded numerous times with an orchestra, including Cherokee in 1966, and with pianist Oscar Peterson
• 43:00 Recorded the landmark album Affinity in 1978 with jazz legend Bill Evans
• 44:47 Bill Evans plays on a Fender Rhodes on the Affinity album, which Hermine thinks is a good combination with chromatic harmonica
• 45:13 Hermine really likes the album Toots recorded with Fred Hersch, the Brazil Project albums and some live albums recorded in the Netherlands
• 46:34 Collaboration with Jaco Pastorius and the song Three Views Of A Secret, which Toots plays much of in the top octave
• 48:38 In 1981 Toots suffered from a stroke at age 58 or 59, which was only the half-way point of his career, and the impact that had on his guitar playing especially (although he did continue with guitar)
• 50:59 The two Brazil Project albums influenced Hermine to buy her first chromatic harmonica after she had previously played saxophone
• 52:18 Toots made his first recording of Brazilian music in the late 1960s, with Elis Regina, and played some South American music with George Shearing
• 53:19 Musical partnership with Quincy Jones was the springboard for Toots recording for numerous films
• 54:32 One of Toots’ first major film soundtracks was Walk, Don’t Run from 1966
• 55:26 Recorded harmonica for Sesame Street
• 56:05 Made appearances with some big names in popular music, including Paul Simon and Billy Joel
• 56:52 Toots probably made a good living from his music income
• 57:36 Was based in the US for much the 1950s/60s/70s with his house in the US and Belgium with a harmonica in every room
• 57:59 In 2006 recorded the album One More For The Road, age 84, which was his last studio album under his own name (although there were later live albums and he continued to record as a session musician)
• 59:01 Toots continued playing until the age of 92
• 59:18 Two big concerts later in his life which honoured him: 2006 at Carnegie Hall: ‘The Magic of Toots’ and 2012 at The Lincoln Centre: ‘Toots 90th Birthday’, both set-up by Herbie Hancock
• 59:53 Was nominated to the NMA Jazz Award, which he was very proud of
• 1:00:47 Died 22/08/2016, aged 94, with the the Prime Minister and Prince of Belgium attending the service, and Kenny Werner read out a personal message from President Obama during the service
• 1:01:07 Hermine was contacted by numerous media outlets on the day of his death to gain her thoughts on his passing
• 1:01:56 The impact in Belgium of the passing of Toots
• 1:02:29 Hermine talks of Toots being a warm person and that came through his music
• 1:03:08 Laurent talks of Toots having the ability to combine his technical virtuosity with warmth in his playing
• 1:03:54 In 2022 there was the 100th Birthday celebration in Brussels, with a series of concerts performed, including Hermine playing with the Brussels orchestra
• 1:05:32 Toots got his name when in his first band (Le Jazz Hot), with Toots being the nickname of two American jazz musicians who Toots later recorded with
• 1:06:37 Books written about Toots include a Biografie by Marc Danval, and Alexandre is planning to write one
• 1:07:12 Toots did a little teaching of harmonica but more offered advice, including to Hermine and Laurent, being very supportive of other chromatic players and always trying to reply to requests
• 1:09:47 Toots played some diatonic harmonica, probably as a result of being requested to play in recording sessions
• 1:12:27 The two chromatic models developed by Hohner: the Hard Bopper and Mellow Tone, and some of the models he played before those
• 1:13:36 Involvement in the Hohner models and his manager maintained them for him
• 1:15:36 Toots mainly played 12 hole chromatics but did play some 16 hole in the 1970s
• 1:16:58 Didn’t play a lot of octaves on chromatic, but some of the early recordings
• 1:17:13 Embouchre was mainly pucker
• 1:17:54 Microphone of choice when playing live was mainly the Shure SM58, and a Sennheiser mic before that
• 1:18:15 In the early days of his career he used large mics, before progressing with the development of dynamic mics, like the SM58, and holding the mic
• 1:20:06 Used a SM58 with a volume control, for the last ten years of his life, from Blows Me Away Productions
• 1:20:47 Effects liked to use reverb
• 1:21:26 Played through a PA, but in earlier years played through the same tube amp as his guitar in the 1960s and 70s
• 1:23:08 Favourite songs, starting with Neil: Diga Diga Doo
• 1:23:49 Laurent’s favourite is Blackbird with Jaco Pastorius
• 1:24:18 Hermine’s favourite is the live version of Misty Red Beast
• 1:24:47 Alexandre’s favourite song
• 1:25:32 Toots legacy and Alexandre’s research paper on Toots: ‘Little Things Mean a Lot’: Understanding the ‘Genius’ of Toots Thielemans through an Organological Examination of the Chromatic Harmonica Playing
• 1:27:36 Laurent’s view on Toots’ legacy
• 1:28:17 Hermine’s view on Toots’ legacy