Toots was a singularity. A top jazz guitarist, his musicianship and huge musical culture allowed him to do the near-impossible : to whistle and play at the same time in unison. Something George Benson will do years later. But when he plays harmonica, he elicits sparkles in our deepest soul and tears in our eyes. R. I. P. Jean "Toots" Thielemans...
I wonder what all those songs would sound like if the drums beat was falling at ONE and not at FOUR. It's a bit like listening a song in a concert while the person standing next to you claps at TWO and FOUR .
Sorry for the correction but he's playing a C Chromatic in solo tuning. The song is in the key of G (with a modulation to Ab at the end). Toots only played C Chromatic. He never played other tunings to my knowledge.
@@chunga668 Toots ABSOLUTELY played chromatics in other keys. I knew him well. When you say "solo tuning" do you mean "tenor tuning" with the lowest note )on a 12 hole) being G?
@@willgalison This conversation on slidemeister answers this question. I guess Toots did use other tunings but only on rare occasion. www.slidemeister.com/forums/index.php?topic=14831.0 Solo Tuning en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solo_tuning
Definitely a G Chromatic. He goes to the bottom hole and is playing G below middle C, the root of the tune. Wil Galison nails it again, just like when he makes beautiful music on the harmonica.