Mythical jazz musician, harmonica legend Toots Thielemans dies at 94

The Belgian jazz harmonica legend Jean ‘Toots’ Thielemans died on Monday at 94, announced his agent.

The artist had been in the hospital for a month as his health worsened, said Veerle van de Poel.

“There were no complications he died of old age, his body was exhausted,” she said.

Born in Brussels in 1922, his 76year career as a jazz harmonicist seemed for a long time to show no signs of ending, and he celebrated his 90th birthday in 2012 with a tour in Belgium.

He moved to the United States in 1952 and was able to work with some of the biggest names in jazz.

He was a member of Charlie Parker’s AllStars and also worked alongside Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Quincy Jones and Pat Metheny.

Toots was considered to be the person who placed the harmonica in the jazz canon.

The artist, whose nickname was inspired by saxophonist Toots Mondello and composer Toots Camarata, began playing an old accordion in his parents’ café at the age of three.

“There was an accordionist every Sunday at the café, and when I was seven I would imitate his movements with a shoebox,” he said in an interview with French newspaper Le Soir in 2005.

“One day a regular at the café said ‘this little guy looks like he wants to play the accordion,’ and that’s when my father bought me my first instrument.”

At 16 he discovered the harmonica and immersed himself in the music of Ray Ventura, a French jazz player and bandleader, and was soon playing in clubs in Belgium.

His first international tour was with the New York clarinetist Benny Goodman in 1949, and at the stop in Stockholm, Toots recorded his first track.

In 1962 he wrote “Bluesette,” a melancholy and nostalgic piece that made him a household name and became his biggest hit.

His career continued growing and he received a Jazz Master Award in 2009, the highest honor that can be earned by American jazz musicians.

Toots announced the end of his playing career in 2014, at the age of 92.