Toots Thielemans

Whistling guitarist and harmonica master Toots Thielemans played in everything from Charlie Parker’s band to commercials for Old Spice, on the theme from “Midnight Cowboy” and the theme from “Sesame Street.” Most important, he made the harmonica a jazz instrument. A perennial winner of DownBeat readers and critics polls in the category “miscellaneous instruments,” Thielemans was called “one of the greatest musicians of our time” by Quincy Jones in 1995. The “Jazz Profiles” shows – nearly 200 ...