Toots Thielemans

Toots Thielemans (1922–2016) was a Belgian jazz musician and virtuoso chromatic harmonica player, also known for guitar, whistling, and contributions to film scores and popular music.

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Benny Goodman: An American jazz clarinetist and bandleader who helped popularize swing. Thielemans toured with Goodman’s band in Europe in 1950.
Midnight Cowboy: A 1969 American drama film directed by John Schlesinger. Thielemans’s harmonica appears in John Barry’s score for the film.
Chromatic harmonica: A harmonica with a button-operated slide that enables chromatic notes across its range. This was Thielemans’s principal melodic instrument in jazz performances.
Bluesette: A jazz composition by Toots Thielemans, originally recorded in 1962. Its swinging melody and harmonica-and-whistling performance became his signature.
George Shearing: A British-American jazz pianist and composer known for his distinctive quintet sound. Thielemans played guitar in Shearing’s quintet from 1951 to 1959.
The Getaway: A 1972 American crime film directed by Sam Peckinpah. Thielemans played harmonica on Quincy Jones’s soundtrack.
Harmonica: A free-reed wind instrument played by blowing and drawing air through reeds. Its breath-driven reeds produce the instrument’s sound in Thielemans’s playing.
Toots Thielemans at the BBC: A collection of BBC performances by Toots Thielemans. The broadcasts document his live approach to jazz harmonica and guitar.
Quincy Jones: An American composer, arranger, producer, and bandleader. Jones featured Thielemans on harmonica in his recordings and film work.
Sesame Street: An American educational television series for children that premiered in 1969. Thielemans’s harmonica features in the series’ familiar theme music.