[Harp-L] Toots Thielemans 2 CD career retrospective





To Harp-l
From:  Norman Vickers, Jazz Society of Pensacola
www.jazzpensacola.com

Here?s a post from JazzTimes dated June 11, 2012 about a 2 CD  career
retrospective  recording  of Toots Thielemans work.
As most on this list surely know, Toots is the preeminent jazz chromatic
player living today.  As you, I hope, remember from my recent post, he?s
celebrating his 90th birthday with a series of concerts in Europe.  Not only
does he play the chromatic wonderfully well, he?s an accomplished guitarist
and noted whistler.

One of my favorite recordings is his collaboration with late pianist Bill
Evans on LP/CD ?Affinity.?

I was disappointed that my previous post did not elicit a single comment on
this list!





06/11/12 
Toots Thielemans
Yesterday & Today
T2/Out of the Blue
By Bill Milkowski 
This two-CD career retrospective includes rare and, in some cases,
previously unheard tracks spanning the 60-plus-year career of the Belgian
jazz harmonica virtuoso Jean-Baptiste ?Toots? Thielemans. Compiled by
producer-pianist and Thielemans? personal friend Cees Schrama, the
collection opens with his early pre-States stabs at modern jazz with his
Belgian contemporaries. A 1946 recording of the Count Basie-inspired ?Jazz
Band Ball? has Thielemans playing guitar in Charlie Christian mode, while
his two 1949 originals, ?Crazy Bop? and ?It Had to Be Bird,? find him in a
more in modernist Billy Bauer vein on the six-string. 
We first hear the familiar Thielemans harmonica voice on his 1950
boogie-woogie number ?Nalen Boogie,? accompanied by a decidedly pre-Jimmy
Smith organist along with banjo, bass and drums. His first Stateside
recording, a wild novelty number entitled ?Dynamite? with Dick Hyman on
organ and Harry Reser on banjo, comes in 1952. And while those early
recordings may have historic value and hold interest mainly for Thielemans
completists, the real gems here are the 1953 tracks with the George Shearing
Quintet (?Love Is Just Around the Corner,? ?Caravan?) and a string of cool
1958 recordings featuring a core trio of Hank Jones, Doug Watkins and Art
Taylor. These tracks are highlighted by the appearance of Al Cohn, Zoot Sims
and Barry Galbraith on a soothing Ralph Burns arrangement of ?Early Autumn.?
A 1964 recording of Manny Albam?s ?Lullaby of Jazzland? has Thielemans
playing some slick, swinging guitar alongside McCoy Tyner, J.J. Johnson,
Richard Davis and Elvin Jones, while two 1966 recordings, the stately title
track and a bouncy 3/4 romp through ?Cherokee,? feature Thielemans
accompanied by full orchestra. An oddly affecting rendition of ?O Susannah?
with Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Bucky Pizzarelli fully reflects the
spirit of 1968. Elis Regina is featured alongside Thielemans? singing
harmonica on the alluring bossa nova ?Barquinho,? and Danish violinist Svend
Asmussen (?The Fiddling Viking?) plays through a wah-wah pedal on the funky
Chet Atkins tribute ?Mr. Nashville.? 
The second disc is largely devoted to Thielemans? work in the ?70s with
producers Quincy Jones and Schrama (including a wonderful solo fingerstyle
guitar performance of Ellington?s ?Black Beauty?). Thielemans? familiar
melodic whistling is highlighted on the 1978 track ?Fritiof Anderssons
Paradmarsch,? recorded in Sweden. Later highlights include his intimate
harmonica-bass duet with Marc Johnson on ?Spartacus Love Theme,? his
harmonica interplay with Shirley Horn on a sparse 1991 rendition of ?Someone
to Watch Over Me,? and a lush 2001 rendition of ?What a Wonderful World?
with Kenny Werner providing lush synth accompaniment. What a wonderful life.


                                                                            
        --End--






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