Verve Jazz Masters 59, which came out back in 1996, is a sampler CD offering a survey of the career of the Belgian musician Toots Thielemans (b. 1922). Programmed in chronological order, it contains some rather rare tracks, and covers a wide period of time although it mostly focuses on the 1970s and 1980s. Thielemans is first heard with the George Shearing Quintet (which at the time included vibraphonist Cal Tjader) in 1953 playing ‘Undecided’ and ‘Body and Soul.’ The 1960s are represented by a quartet version of his ‘Flirt’ and a rather forgettable movie theme with Quincy Jones & His Orchestra. A highlight is Thielemans whistling on ‘Hummin’ with Jones in 1970. The rendition of ‘Bluesette’ (Thielemans' one big hit) from 1975 may be a bit too poppy for purists, but there are fine versions of ‘Tenor Madness’ (with a European group in 1975), ‘Killer Joe’ (a duet with bassist Marc Johnson), ‘The Peacocks’, and the straight-ahead ‘C to G Jam Blues’. The CD concludes with ‘For My Lady’, which finds Thielemans accompanied by Shirley Horn and her trio in 1991.

Thielemans is a jazz harmonica player extraordinaire and has essentially had no competition ever since he decided to fully focus on that instrument, rather than the guitar, in the early 1950s. And, as the above sampler CD shows, the man from Brussels has international appeal. In 1950, he toured Europe as a guitarist with the Benny Goodman Sextet in and then immigrated to the United States the following year, becoming a member of the George Shearing Quintet. In 1959, Thielemans began working as a freelance, playing and recording with Ella Fitzgerald, Quincy Jones, Bill Evans, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Astrud Gilberto, and Elis Regina, among others. In 1962 Thielemans recorded his famous ‘Bluesette’ using unison whistling and guitar, and ever since has been greatly in demand - particularly for his harmonica and his whistling – on pop records and as a jazz soloist. Beginning in the 1970s, Thielemans has made annual trips to Brussels and has appeared as a leader of swing and bop quartets. At the Montreux International Jazz Festival, he recorded as a sideman with Oscar Peterson in 1975, then with Dizzy Gillespie in 1980.

His international career didn’t go without its due merits. Thielemans has received many awards and titles including ‘Chevalier des arts et des lettres’ in France, Professor Honoris Causa at the two universities of Brussels. In 2001 the Belgian King Albert II honoured him with the title ‘Baron’, thus turning him literally into jazz nobility.

And now the man, whose theme from Sesame Street has been a call to settle down in front of the TV set for various generations of children, has truly become a Jazz Master. Earlier this month he was the first European musicion to be bestowed that title by the National Endowment for the Arts in the US. At the Award Ceremony in New York City Thielemans played a version of ‘What a Wonderful Word’ as a tribute to Louis Armstrong, whom he called his ‘musical guru’: ‘"I accept this distinction with pride and emotion. Born in Belgium 86 years ago, I played at music until I heard a Louis Armstrong record in 1940. That was instant contamination and Blue Note became my guiding antennae musically and personally.’