Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans died yesterday, aged 94. I heard and saw him some 40 years ago in a Jazz club in Cologne called “Subway”, together with the young and aspiring bass player Jeff Berlin (who was unbelievably good).
Although you might not have heard of him, “Toots” was a superhero – and you did in fact hear him, like in Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t she lovely?”, or in Sesame Street.
Here is his most famous composition, “Bluesette”:
And here he plays with Jaco, who died almost 30 years ago, and who was one of these superheroes himself:
Merçi Jean, and rest in peace. (picture © Ron van der Kolk, CC-BY-2.5)