Toots Thielemans (29 April 1922 – 22 August 2016)

 It was Reinhardt who inspired Belgian-born Jean-Baptiste 'Toots' Thielemans in the early 1940s to take up the guitar, which provided his first credentials in the jazz world, enabling him to tour Europe with Benny Goodman’s group (including Roy Eldridge and Zoot Sims) in 1950. But he had played accordion since childhood and as a teenager he learned the chromatic harmonica, which eventually became his signature instrument.

When he emigrated to the US 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. His most famous recording, however, had him whistling rather than blowing, and ‘Bluesette’ (originally recorded in Sweden in 1961) became not only a standard but the indispensable climax of his live appearances. The expressive sound of his harmonica, comparable to an individualistic saxophonist, was recognised by Quincy Jones (‘Soldier In The Rain’, 1964, and numerous albums thereafter) and led to much film soundtrack work for other composers, including on Midnight Cowboy (1969).

Toots only stopped touring in his early nineties, and a typical festival set some years ago showed him playing all jazz, with no concessions apart from ‘Bluesette’. His work with musicians as varied as Bill Evans (Affinity) and Jaco Pastorius (Word Of Mouth) shows how unique was his talent.

– Brian Priestley