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Soul Station

The Complete Toots Thielemans

1952-1961

By Olivier Julien

Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidore Thielemans was born on 29 April 1922 in the Marolles quarter of Brussels, where his parents had a café at N° 241 rue Haute, and in which the boy first discovered the accordion thanks to a musician who played there. He was three when his father bought him his first paper accordion, and after a few lessons he was playing La tonkinoise, the socialist anthem L’internationale, or musette pieces on request in the family’s bistrot. In 1927, they moved to Molenbeek and opened a haberdashery that sold lingerie and working-clothes. Its name was Au Palais du Cache-Poussière. Jean-Baptiste went to primary school in Molenbeek, and continued his secondary education at the Athénée de Koekelberg, before studying mathematics at the Brussels Free University, or ULB. In 1929 he discovered Larry Adler and Max Geldray in Ray Ventura’s orchestra, and it was probably then that he acquired his first harmonica, an instrument whose in-out breathing technique turned out to be of help in controlling his asthma, a condition from which he suffered all his life.

He abandoned the diatonic accordion in favour of a chromatic instrument in 1939 when war was breaking out. He failed his first-year exams at University, but he had other career plans: he played what he heard on radio, discovering Louis Armstrong and Fats Waller on a wind-up phonograph. Jazz fascinated him, and he was advised to practise on another instrument if he wanted to play with an orchestra. When he fell ill in 1941 and was confined to bed, he received a visit from his friend Gilbert who brought with him a guitar. Jean was 19 and wanted to try it, so Gilbert made a bet with him that seemed stupid: “If you can play this you can have my guitar!” They shook hands on it and after only a few minutes, Jean-Baptiste the accordionist and harmonica player became a guitarist also. Jean Warland often took his accordion over to the Thielemans’ home in Molenbeek; he was four years younger than Jean, who wasn’t yet known as “Toots”. When they took their instruments up to the attic, Madame Thielemans would shout out, “Jean, no harmonica, remember your asthma!” In his autobiography Warland wrote, “Medically she was wrong! And musically too!” He went on, “In the privacy of his attic, he showed me ninths, major sevenths and inversions; the chords in “Mood Indigo”, “I Can’t Get Started”, “Just You, Just Me”, etc. I was discovering the beauty of harmony.” When the Liberation came, and by now a master of his instruments, Jean joined Herman Sandy’s band, “Le Jazz Hot.” Together with René Thomas, Jean rapidly became one of the best guitarists in Belgium. This was the moment when Sandy and Jacky Theunis decided that the name “Jean-Baptiste” wasn’t hip enough for him, and told him he should adopt a more American-sounding name: “Why not “Toots” like the trumpeter-composer-arranger Toots Camarata, or Toots Mondello, Lionel Hampton’s saxophonist?” It took Jean-Baptiste only a few moments’ thought before he said, “Toots is fine! ”

By 1946 he was playing in Robert De Kers’ band, and later joined Yvon Debie or Rudy Bruder. He was recognised as a good guitar-player and a phenomenon with a chromatic harmonica, on which he would improvise as if he was Charlie Parker. A year later he made his first trip to the USA, accompanying his uncle on business. In New York he did the rounds of the clubs, jammed with his harmonica on 52^nd street, and met the likes of Billy Taylor, Howard McGhee and Lennie Tristano. Benny Goodman’s impresario Billy Shaw noticed Toots in Miami when he was playing Chuck Wayne’s guitar. He mentioned Toots to the clarinettist and a few months later Benny offered him the chance to join him in New York. But Visas and Green Cards were difficult to acquire… Back in Belgium, Toots would have to wait another four years before he become an expatriate.

Reputed one of Belgium’s most creative jazzmen, Toots played guitar with Jean Leclère at the Nice Festival in 1948. At the Paris Festival of 1949 he appeared at Salle Pleyel, where he met his idol Charlie Parker. He would meet up with him again during his Swedish sojourn from 1950 to 1952. Toots would always keep his accordion, and was never separated from his harmonicas, but in those days he was one of the best ambassadors for the guitar. His fellow musicians even made fun of him when he put his harmonica to his lips: “That thing’s a toy, get rid of it!” But they were all wrong, because Toots had already found the sound that would make him immortal, with his long, essential notes, his modulations, accidentals and resonances.

On 22 August 1949 Toots married his wife Netty and went on tour in Italy with Flavio Ambrosetti. In Rome he met Goodman, who remembered how much he’d liked the recordings that Billy Shaw had played to him. Benny asked Toots to join him in England at the London Palladium, and Toots became a member of the Sextet that Benny would take to Denmark and then Sweden, where the guitarist stayed almost two years and learnt the language. While playing with Reinhold Svensson in a Stockholm hotel, he saw Charlie Parker come in and immediately began playing (note for note!) the chorus of Bird’s recording of “Lover Man.” Bird was stunned, saying, “That’s the greatest tribute you can pay my music.” They would meet up again in Philadelphia. At the end of 1952, Toots succeeded in emigrating to the Unites States as an employee of Sabena Airlines. Armed with the famous Green Card, and then naturalised as an American, he recorded with Wardell Gray and Dinah Washington. He accompanied pianist George Shearing for seven years and took part in the great “Birdland All Stars Tour,” the only European artist in the tour featuring Count Basie, Lester Young and Billie Holiday. Toots’ famous creation of “Bluesette,” which he first played in unison on the harmonica and the guitar in 1962, would bring him international fame. Also in the Sixties, Toots began a long friendship and professional collaboration with Quincy Jones, and it provided him with an introduction to the American film industry.

Beginning in 1970, Toots would frequently undertake round trips between his Montaux residence on Long Island and his appearances in Europe. Belgium rediscovered him through concerts set up by Roger Vanhaverbeke, in between other engagements in Holland, Sweden and Germany (with the big band led by Kurt Edelhagen.) Notable recordings made during his peak include The Sound (1955, with Ray Bryant and Oscar Pettiford, a disc awarded four stars by “Down Beat” critics); Man Bites Harmonica (with Kenny Drew, Pepper Adams, Wilbur Ware and Art Taylor); his meetings with Elis Regina (1972) or Brazil Project (1991); and above all the album Affinity made with Bill Evans in 1978.

For five decades, the Annual “Down Beat Critics Poll” award went to Toots, who made the “Miscellaneous Instruments” category his own and earned his universal fame with his little harmonica. Coaxing from it sounds that were warm and unrivalled, he recorded multiple film soundtracks from “Midnight Cowboy” to “Jean de Florette.” An established, appreciated musician, he moved with ease from jazz to popular music, playing and recording with Billy Joël or Paul Simon as much as with Bill Evans, Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock, Phil Woods, Shirley Horn or Ray Bryant, multiplying tours on every continent.

In 1981 he suffered a stroke that deprived his left hand of its dexterity. But it didn’t put an end to Toots’ career as a harmonica player, and he gave numerous concerts worldwide at a rhythm of some 200 per year. When he remarried (to Huguette, after becoming a widower), he returned from America to settle in 1991 in the Brussels suburb of La Hulpe. In 2001, King Albert II of Belgium made him Baron Jean-Baptiste Thielemans. The motto Toots adopted for his coat-of-arms was, “Be Yourself, No More, No Less”! That same year he received honorary doctorates from two Brussels universities, the French-speaking ULB and the Flemish VUB. In the USA he holds the supreme Jazz Master Award for 2009 from the National Endowment For The Arts, and his native Belgium has made him a “Commander of the Order of Leopold II” in addition to his title as “Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters.” When Gilberto Gil was Culture Minister for Brazil, he made Toots a Commander in the “Ordem de Rio Branco.”

Toots, a jazz giant and a national hero in Belgium, once confided he regretted playing so little in France, where he wasn’t appreciated. In 2014, he decided to bring his career to an end but still performed onstage in August at the Middelheim Jazz Festival in Antwerp. He passed away in Brussels on 22 August 2016.

Olivier Julien

Adapted into English by Martin Davies

© Frémeaux & Associés 2022

DISCOGRAPHIE

CD1

Toot’s Quartet

1 - That’s a Plenty (Lew Pollack)

2 - Harmonica Rag (Toots Thielemans)

3 - Toot’s Blues (Toots Thielemans)

4 - Red Devil Boogie (Toots Thielemans)

5 - At the Darktown Strutters Ball (Toots Thielemans)

6 - Happy Go Lazy (Toots Thielemans)

7 - Michigan (Jean Reveu-Harry King)

8 - High School Cadets March (Iohn Philip Sousa)

Toots Thielemans à l’harmonica

Billy Desmedt à l’orgue

Avec accompagnement de rythmes

33 tours 25 cm Decca AM 233012 - 1952 - Belgique

The Sound

9 - On the Alamo (Gus Kahn-Isham Jones)

10 - Don’t be That Way (Benny Goodman-Edgar Sampson-Mitchell Parish)

11 - I’m Putting All My Eggs in One Basket (Irving Berlin)

12 - Sophisticated Lady (IrvingMills-Mitchell Parish-Duke Ellington)

13 - Scotch on the Rocks (Toots Thielemans)

14 - I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart (Irving Mills-Henry Nemo-John Redmond-Duke Ellington)

15 - Stars Fell on Alabama (Mitchell Parish-Frank Perkins)

16 - Diga Diga Doo (Dorothy Fields-Jimmy McHugh)

17 - So Rare (Jack Sharpe-Jerry Herst)

18 - Skylark (Johnny Mercer-Hoagy Carmichael)

19 - Sonny Boy (Al Jolson-Buddy DeSylva-Lew Brown-Ray Henderson)

20 - Cocktails for Two (Arthur Johnston-Sam Coslow)

Toots Thielemans à la guitare et à l’harmonica

Avec accompagnement d’orchestre

33 tours 30 cm Philips B 07083 L - 1955 - Hollande

CD2

Man Bites Harmonica

1 - East of the Sun (Brooks Bowman)

2 - Don’t Blame Me (Dorothy Fields-Jimmy McHugh)

3 - 18th Century ballroom (Ray Bryant)

4 - Soul Station (Jean Thielemans)

5 - Fundamental Frequency (Jean Thielemans)

6 - Strutting with Some Barbecue (Louis Armstrong)

7 - Imagination (Johnny Burke-Jimmy Van Heusen)

8 - Isn’t it Romantic (Richard Rodgers-Lorenz Hart)

Toots Thielemans à la guitare et à l’harmonica

Pepper Adals au saxophone baryton

Wilbur Ware à la basse

Alex Taylor à la batterie

33 tours 30 cm Riverside Records RLP 1125 - 1958 - USA

Time Out for Toots

 9 - The Nearness of You (Hoagy Carmichael-Ned Washngton)

10 - In a Sentimental Mood (Duke Ellington-Many Kurtz-Irving Mills)

11 - You Took Advantage of Me (Richard Rodgers-Lorenz Hart)

12 - Cool and Easy (Toots Thielemens)

13 - Body and Soul (Johnny Green-Robert Sour-Edward Heyman-Frank Eyton)

14 - The Cuckoo in the Clock (Walter Donaldson-Johnny Mercer)

15 - Tangerine (Johnny Mercer-Victor Schertzinger)

16 - Early Autumn (Ralph Burns-Woody Herman-Johnny Mercer)

17 - Them there Eyes (Maceo Pinkerd-William Tracey-Doris Tauber)

18 - A Handful of Stars (Ted Shapiro-Jack Lawrence)

19 - Can’t Help Lovin’ dat Man (Jerome Kern-Oscar Hammerstein II)

20 - Clap Yo’ Hands (George Gershwin)

Toots Thielemans à l’harmonica

Avec accompagnement d’orchestre

33 tours 30 cm Decca DL 9204 - 1958 - USA

CD3

The Soul of Toots Thielemans

1 - You Are my Sunshine (Jimmie Davis-Charles Mitchell)

2 - Nuages (Django Reinhardt-Steve Williams)

3 - Five O’clock Whistle (Joe Myrow-Gene Irwin-Kim Gannon)

4 - Soul (Toots Thielemens)

5 - Lonesome Road (arr. Toots Thielemens)

6 - Misty (Erroll Garner-Johnny Burke)

7 - Confirmation (Charlie Parker)

8 - Les enfants s’ennuient le dimanche (Charles Trenet)

9 - Brother John (Toots Thielemens)

Toots Thielemans à la guitare et à l’harmonica

Avec Ray Briant et son trio

33 tours 30 cm Signature SM 6006 - 1960 - USA

Try a Little Tenderness - Blues pour flirter

10 - Winter in Madrid (Gene Roland-Jaxques Cascales)

11 - Willow Weep for Me (Ann Ronell)

12 - Satin Doll (Duke Ellington-Johnny Mercer-Billy Strayhorn)

13 - Bag’s Groove (Milt Jackson)

14 - We’ll be Together Again (Carl Fischer-Frankie Laine)

15 - Hot Toddy (Ralph Flanagan-Herb Hendler)

16 - Try a Little Tenderness (Harry M.Woods-Jimmy Campbell-Reg Connerlly)

17 - Talk to Me (Eddie Snyder-Stanley Kahan-Rudy Vallée)

18 - Le trottoir (Toots Thielemens)

19 - Honeysuckle Rose (Fats Waller-Andy Razaf)

20 - Flirt (Toots Thielemens)

Toots Thielemans à la guitare et à l’harmonica

Avec accompagnement de rythmes

33 tours 30 cm Polydor 46 114 - 1961 - France

CD4

Road to romance

1 - Isn’t it Romantic (Richard Rodgers)

2 - Homesick that’s All (Gordon Jenkins)

3 - Penthouse Serenade (Will Jason-Val Burton)

4 - A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody (Irving Berlin)

5 - This Is Always (Harry Warren-Mack Gordon)

6 - Stranger in Paradise (Robert Wright-George Forest)

7 - Stairway to the Stars (Matti Malneck-Frank Signorelli-Mitchell Parish)

8 - Love Walked in (George Gershwin)

9 - Long Ago and Far Away (Jerome Kern)

10 - I loves you, Porgy (George Gershwin)

11 - You Stepped Out of a Dream (Herb Brown-Gus Kahn)

12 - You’re Driving me Crazy (Walter Donaldson)

Orchestre dirigé par Kurt Edelhagen

33 tours 30 cm Polydor 46 356 - 1961 - Allemagne

Toots

13 - Hi Ho - Hi Ho (Frank Churchill)

14 - Summertime (George Gershwin)

15 - Back Bay Shuffle (Artie Shaw-Teddy McRay)

16 - Vem kan segla förutan vind (traditionnel arr. Toots Thielemans)

17 - Secret Love (Sammy Fain)

18 - The Blues and I (Toots Thielemens)

19 - Fjärlin vingad syns på Haga (Carl Michael Bellman arr. Toots Thielemans)

20 - Delaunay’s Dilemma (John Lewis)

21 - The Blacksmith Blues (Jack Holmes)

22 - Blue and Yellow (Toots Thielemens)

23 - Carry me Back to Old Virginia (traditionnel arr. Toots Thielemans)

24 - Whistle While you Work (Frank Churchill)

Avec Toots Thielemans à l’harmonica

Arne Wilhelmsson et Jilly Woode à la basse

Anders Burman et Sture Kalin à la batteie

Reinhold Svensson à l’orgue

Knud Jörgensen au piano

33 tours 30 cm Metronome MLP 15089 - 1961 - Suède