Toots Thielemans Dead at 94

Belgian jazz musician Toots Thielemans has died. He was 94 years old, Billboard reports. According to his manager, Thieleman passed away in his sleep at a Belgian hospital on Monday. Previously, he had been hospitalized after suffering a fall.

Thielemans was born in Brussels, Belgium, where he began playing music at a young age. After discovering jazz during the German occupation of Belgium during World War II, he emigrated to the United States in 1952, where he became a member of Charlie Parker’s All-Stars.

Known for playing harmonica and guitar, Thielemans performed with artists such as Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Paul Simon, Max Roach, Pat Metheny, Jaco Pastorious, and many more. He played music for movies like Midnight Cowboy and The Getaway, as well as many Belgian productions. (That’s also his harmonica you hear on the original theme song for “Sesame Street.”)

In 2001, Thielemans was made a baron by the King of Belgium. In 2009, he was named a jazz master by the National Endowment for the Arts. 

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