JAZZ REVIEW : Toots Thielemans at Catalina Bar & Grill

When Toots Thielemans begins to play, old songs become young, harshness gives way to harmony, and a long despised instrument, the harmonica, becomes a thing of beauty.

Tuesday evening at Catalina Bar & Grill in Hollywood the Belgian musician reminded us that after four decades of primacy he remains the jazz world’s only total master of the mouth organ (Larry Adler has always been principally a classical performer). In his hands the difficulties of limning a flowing melodic line in this challenging medium are never discernible. His unique brand of lyricism was apparent from the first song, “My Foolish Heart,” to which he brought the romantic stamp that is his principal virtue.

Some of the more jazz-oriented pieces, such as Wayne Shorter’s “Speak No Evil” and Benny Carter’s “Only Trust Your Heart,” showed Thielemans’ capacity for establishing a buoyantly swinging groove, but the return to a ballad mood in “We’ll Be Together Again” marked another highlight, displaying not only his own virtuosity but also the empathetic collaboration with his pianist, Fred Hersch.

Heard here some time ago with Art Farmer, Hersch is Damon to Thielemans’ Pythias, alternately a deferential but valuable accompanist and a consistently innovative soloist. Toward the end of the set the two other members, Mike Formanek on bass and Jeff Hirshfield on drums, laid out while Hersch and the leader brought the melodic charm of Jacques Brel’s “Ne Me Quitte Pas” (“If You Go Away”) into exquisite focus.

As has long been his custom, Thielemans set aside the harmonica long enough to pick up his guitar, repeating his celebrated routine of whistling and playing the guitar in octave unison on his best known composition, “Bluesette,” which he now refers to as “my Social Security number.” Somehow this led into a totally unexpected chorus of “Night Train” followed by an even more improbable whistled version of “Giant Steps.”

Thielemans has been the ne plus ultra in his field for so long that his mere presence is a guarantee of creative quality.