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Jazz Articles about Toots Thielemans

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Radio & Podcasts

Moaning, Whistling, Sighing and Other Jazz Sounds

Read "Moaning, Whistling, Sighing and Other Jazz Sounds" reviewed by Ludovico Granvassu


Jazz--the quintessential open door genre--has a capacity to beautifully integrate all kinds of sources. From music from faraway places to compositions written and instruments used for completely different genres. When it comes to the human voice, jazz has shown an uncanny openness to its endless possibilities finding a musical role for all sorts of non verbal forms of expression. In these two hours we'll explore the jazz side of moaning, sighing, whistling, groaning, humming, growling, grunting, crying, etc. Don't worry... ...

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Album Review

Toots Thielemans European Quartet: 90 Years

Read "90 Years" reviewed by Ian Patterson


NEA Jazz Master and harmonica playing legend Toots Thielemans turned 90 in April 2012, and the milestone has been marked by an exhibition, a street-naming in his honor and a couple of releases. The double-CD Yesterdays and Todays (Dreyfus, 2012) contained 37 previously unreleased recordings spanning a remarkable 65 years, from 1946 to 2011. Then in September, the Lincoln Center paid tribute to Thielemans in a concert where the maestro was joined by pianists Herbie Hancock and Kenny Werner, bassist ...

201
Album Review

Toots Thielemans: European Quartet Live

Read "European Quartet Live" reviewed by Raul d'Gama Rose


Miles Davis never liked the use of the term “legend," to describe a living musician, but perhaps an exception ought to be made in the case of Toots Thielemans, who ranks with the great Larry Adler as one of the greatest harmonica players, one for whom music has specially been composed. On ˂em˃Live˂/em˃, together with his European Quartet, however, Thielemans plays a collection of standards and a couple of his own compositions, brought to life on his chromatic harmonica, with ...

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Album Review

Toots Thielemans: European Quartet Live

Read "European Quartet Live" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay


Jean “Toots" Thielemans' musical education started early--he had already started to play the accordion at the age of three. But it was his skill on the harmonica that brought him international fame, and it's that skill which is to the fore on European Quartet Live, featuring a set of well-known tunes taken from concerts in 2006, '07 and '08. It's the second Thielemans live album to be released in 2010 after The Live Takes, Volume 1 (In + Out Records), ...

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Album Review

Toots Thielemans: The Live Takes, Vol. 1

Read "The Live Takes, Vol. 1" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


While studio recordings can capture a musician's sound, live performances capture the essence of their being and the soul within the sound. When an iconic artist like harmonica giant Toots Thielemans isn't in the studio or creating a prearranged live recording, he's still traveling the globe and bringing his music into the clubs and concert halls of the world. While most of that music never shows up on record, a little bit occasionally seeps into the marketplace. The music on ...

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Album Review

Toots Thielemans: One More For The Road

Read "One More For The Road" reviewed by Ian Patterson


The greatest harmonica player of the 20th Century, Toots Thielemans, is showing no signs of slowing down at 84 years of age, still in demand at jazz festivals and concert venues throughout the world. One More For The Road finds him accompanied by strings and a star lineup of singers who interpret the songbook of Harold Arlen.

Songs like “Come Rain Or Come Shine, “Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea, “One For My Baby (And One ...

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Album Review

Toots Thielemans: Do Not Leave Me

Read "Do Not Leave Me" reviewed by Greg Thomas


This digitally remastered release of Do Not Leave Me is a must hear for collectors and fans alike. Toots Thielemans' sound and approach to jazz improvisation on harmonica strongly appeal to both heart and mind, and this 1987 recording amply shows why. A supple, driving rhythm section featuring pianist Fred Hersch, bassist Marc Johnson, and drummer Joey Baron gives Thielemans sufficient support to float his mastery at will. He pleads, prods and probes, begs, borrows and steals ...


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