Toots Thielemans

Influential Belgian harmonica player, whistler and guitarist (29 April 1922, Brussels - 22 August 2016, Braine-l'Alleud). Considered the pre-eminent jazz harmonica player, he performed and recorded with some of the greats like Billy Joel.

Thielemans began playing the accordion at an early age and taught himself how to play the guitar after being introduced to the music of Oscar Castro-Neves. After suffering a stroke in 1981 he had more difficulty playing the guitar and started concentrating even more on the harmonica.

His most famous composition is Bluesette, which has become a standard. With a larger audience he is perhaps best-known for performing the Sesame Street theme. He also appeared on numerous soundtracks, most notably The Pawnbroker (1964), Midnight Cowboy (1969), The Getaway (1972), Turks Fruit (1973) and Jean de Florette (1986). Many of those were scored by his long-term collaborator Quincy Jones.

On 12 March 2014 Toots Thielemans announced his retirement. He would only appear one more time in concert at National Endowment For The Arts (2009).