Jean-Baptiste "Toots" Thielemans

Why an honorary doctorate? 

On 11 December 2001, Toots Thielemans received the doctor honoris causa from VUB and ULB in the Brussels Palace of Fine Arts.

On the tips of the tones

He was the first person to receive a joint honorary doctorate from two universities. As a ketje (street kid) from the Marolles district, he showed that the merging of (language) communities does not have to make waves. Thielemans showed that music knows no differences and creates emotion without boundaries. Passion drives man where he wants to be and humanism makes everything more possible.

A quote, a sentence, a thought, a feeling from Thielemans' endlessly intense 'Bluesette’. About how love is so beautiful to feel but becomes more valuable when shared. Toots connects tones and notes into an extension of the fire and passion that drive him. In his life, his career, his music. Do not give despair a stage, but let surrender take the spotlight. Only then will the light never go out. 

About his career

"Toots"

He never revealed what was behind the name "Toots". According to him, it referred to Toots Morello and Toots Camarata.

Instrumental

In 1987, manufacturer Hohner developed two harmonicas in cooperation with Toots. They are made for warmer and louder tones, and are both given his name.

2007: Klara career prize

2009: Nea jazz master award

2017: A silver coin is minted in memory of Toots Thielemans.

En avant la musique!

1922. The life of Jean-Baptiste Thielemans begins in Brussels' working-class neighbourhood the Marolles; his parents run a café there. Little Toots is still very young when he becomes enchanted by the accordionist who plays there every Sunday. When it turns out that he can easily handle a toy version of an accordion, his parents gave him a real children's accordion as a present. Toots would cherish it until the end of his life. 

After Thielemans is blown off his feet in the cinema by a scene in which a streak of grandiose harmonica music dominates, he puts his accordion aside to passionately pursue the harmonica. He listens to endless records of virtuosos, imitates songs, and turns out to have an excellent hand at improvisation.

Toots does not forget that school is also valuable and goes to study mathematics at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. But the Second World War forces the university to close and in 1940 the Thielemans family flees to France. In Masseret, France, Toots discovers American jazz through the English-language radio. A new world opens up for him and his instrument. But it is only in 1942, when he hears Louis Armstrong's 'Carry me back to old Virginny' on a record, that he completely changes his course. His love blossoms in silence, as the Germans strictly forbid American music.

1943, a blessing in disguise. Thielemans is felled by pneumonia and must remain in bed. One of his friends challenges him: can he play the song 'Hold tight' by Fats Waller on guitar as quickly as possible? Toots hardly needs a quarter of an hour and loses his heart to an instrument for the third time. 

After World War II, Toots Thielemans, together with other musicians, plays in Brussels establishments. Many American artists come to Europe to perform.

1947. Toots' uncle Theo, who lives in Miami, invites him to come and stay in America for a while. Toots is euphoric about the chance to go to the land of jazz. In a jazz bar over there, he gives it all he’s got one evening during a jam session. His dexterity on both guitar and harmonica does not escape Bill Gottlieb, journalist at The Washington Post and present there. He arranges a performance for Toots with the J.J. Johnson All Star Band in Manhattan. The audience is doubtful at first but then goes through the roof. 

1948. Toots Thielemans comes into contact with 'The King of Swing', Benny Goodman, a famous American jazz musician. Totally impressed by Toots' talent, he invites him - it’s 1950 now - to join him on his European tour. 

After much commuting between Europe and the United States, Toots is accepted as an American citizen in 1957. He gives up his Belgian nationality and calls himself an Americanised Brusselser. Thielemans starts working with the blind English-American jazz pianist George Shearing and calls those years between 1952 and 1959 both a great challenge and a great learning experience.

In the meantime, Thielemans already has a series of solo records to his name, and he trades the U.S. for Sweden, where he has plenty of opportunities. In 1962, he creates the jazz waltz 'Bluesette'. International star Ray Charles is crazy about the song and Ella Fitzgerald also sings it. But it is the legendary producer Quincy Jones who uses Thielemans' talent for soundtracks and tunes of TV programmes such as 'The Bill Cosby Show' and 'Sesame Street'. 

His music can be heard in such films as 'The Getaway'(1972), 'Turks Fruit'(1973), 'Jean de Florette' (with leading actors Yves Montand and Gérard Depardieu). But his musical contribution to the Swedish animated film 'Dunderklumpen' does even more. Later, his melodies also resound in police series 'Witse' and 'Baantjer'. 

Toots collaborates with great Brazilian stars such as Luiz Bonfa and Astrud Gilberto, and with Dutch and Belgian musical greats including Tony Vos and Bert Paige. But when Paul Simon asks him in 1975 to play on his album 'Still crazy after all these years', it is one of his many highlights. About Toots, Simon says: ‘He was always in a good mood, there was not an ounce of badness in him. He brought me peace.’ 

There are still many musical climaxes to come, unforgettable collaborations with the greats of the world: American pianist Bill Evans, singer Billy Joel, to name but a few. Too many to list. 

In 1981, fate knocks at the door. Thielemans suffers a brain haemorrhage and is out for six months. Jaco Pastorius, the influential American bass guitarist, takes him on tour to Japan after his recovery. But his left hand does not cooperate well any more, playing the guitar is less fluent, and his motor skills are slowing down.

An Edison at the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague in 2001, a performance at Carnegie Hall in New York in 2008, but also a contribution to the free folk festival at the Belgavox Concert in 2009, which is dedicated to solidarity: Thielemans does it all, and always with (world) famous artists at his side. 

2012. Toots' record company Universal releases 'Toots Thielemans, The best of' on the occasion of his 90th birthday, with 28 of his best-known recordings. It becomes quite a year... A bulging diary, a live CD, a DVD, the book 'Toots 90', and two superb, sold-out concerts at Lincoln Center in New York City. 

In 2014, as a tribute to Thielemans, a special concert is organised during Jazz Middelheim: the musician had previously announced that he was retiring for good. A fragile Toots moves the audience to the tips of their toes with 'What a wonderful world'. 

22 August 2016 Jean-Baptiste Victor Frederic Isidor Thielemans dies in his sleep at the age of 94, probably dreaming of a musical afterlife. 

The whistler and his guitar

If there is love in your heart to share, dear Bluesette, don't despair some blue boy is waiting just like you.