Toots Thielemans Dead at 94

Toots Thielemans, the Belgian jazz harmonica and guitar player who worked with numerous postwar greats, died on Monday aged 94, his agency said.

His breakthrough came in 1950 when he toured Europe with Benny Goodman.

Known for playing harmonica and guitar, Thielemans performed with artists such as Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Paul Simon, Max Roach, Pat Metheny, Jaco Pastorious, and many more.

His manager Veerle Van de Poel told the Belgian press agency Belga that the famous harmonica player had been in hospital for a month now following a nasty fall: “He was convalescing but died in his sleep last night”.

Born in Brussels on April 29, 1922, Thielemans started playing the harmonica as a hobby and got “contaminated” by the jazz virus during the German occupation, according to his website.

The nickname followed, taken from United States musician Toots Mondello, a swing jazz saxophonist, and Toots Camarata, a trumpet player, composer and arranger.

When he emigrated to the U.S. and joined the George Shearing quintet from 1953-59, he was hired on guitar but soon had features on harmonica, a selling point when he started his own groups.

He also played on many film soundtracks, including “Midnight Cowboy” in 1969 which starred Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman and won three Academy Awards.

Thielemans was made a baron by the then king of Belgium, Albert II, in 2001, confirming his status as one of the country’s best-known figures. The Belgian royal family said it was “deeply moved by (the) passing away of Toots Thielemans, one of the greatest jazzmen”.

He was often nominated as the greatest living Belgian.

Thielemans hung up his harmonica in 2014 as health problems linked to his age made it more hard for him to take to the stage.