NEA Jazz Master, Toots Thielemans, is widely considered to be the preeminent jazz harmonica player. It is safe to say that before him, the harmonica in jazz was simply not done, and Thielemans can be credited with legitimizing the instrument in the genre. Born in Brussels, Belgium in 1922. Theileman’s excelled on accordion as a small child, before picking up the guitar as a teenager after hearing Django Reinhart. Along the way, he taught himself to play harmonica as a hobby. In 1948, during a visit to the US, he sat in on guitar with a jazz group at small club in New York and was “discovered.” Engagements soon followed with the likes of Benny Goodman, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Oscar Peterson, Dizzy Gillespie, Quincy Jones and more. As the story goes, in response to a musicians’ union restriction, Thielemans was forbidden to play guitar at a gig. So, he pulled out his harmonica. The rest, as they say, is history. He went on to have a long and prolif