TOOTS THIELEMANS in concert, Tuesday, May 13, in the Salt Lake Hilton Hotel Seasons Ballroom at 8 p.m. One show only.
Listening to Jean Toots Thielemans talk about his career is like listening to a favorite grandfather tell stories of his childhood.The 75-year-old musician, in his charming Belgium accent, took advantage of the Hilton ballroom's intimacy and spoke candidly to the audience, weaving yarns of his days in the George Shearing Quartet, the times he played with Miles Davis in the Charlie Parker All Stars and as a free-lance musician in New York.
The concert opened with George Gershwin's "Porgy, I Loves You Porgy" and ended with an encore that featured a beautiful and reverent instrumental rendition of Louis Armstrong's hit "What a Wonderful World."
The jazzman was backed by a righteous band that emotionally shot into orbit everyone who heard the music.
Keyboardist Kenny Wariner, bassist Ray Drummond and drummer Billy Hart complemented Thielemans during such jazz trips as "Very Early" and "Blue & Green."
The band leader, like any great musician, stepped back and let his band stand for itself through some powerful solos. Wariner, who played a drifting rendition of "All the Way" with Thielemans, rippled his fingers up and down the piano during some tunes, but also knew when to touch off some symphonic arrangements on a synthesizer that Thielemans called an "orchestra."
Drummond would pick out some textured bass lines, and his wrists, fingers and arms would be all over the fretless neck of his stand-up double bass fiddle. The tones that emerged from the sound system were free, easygoing and cranking.
Hart was able to show his speed, coordination and precision during a syncopated solo spot that took off during the band's second set. He ripped up and down his tom-toms with wire brushes and jazz drumstick, and also used his cymbals - including the foot-propelled high hats - to crash and sizzle some buzzing sustains. In fact, Hart's solo received the loudest cheers from an audience who waited patiently for Thielemans to let him loose.
After a few tunes on the harmonica, Thielemans picked up his guitar and gave a short career-history lesson.
"I'm slowly building up to the song I'm going to play," Thielemans playfully said to the audience after a five-minute nostalgia trip.
With that, the man and his band played the mellow acoustic jazz hit, "Body & Soul."
During the second set, Thielemans spoke of the commercial gig he got hawking Old Spice cologne. Yes, he even whistled the commercial's catch tune - which he originally wrote.
Then he talked about his gig with "Sesame Street." Some of you might remember the TV show's closing harmonica mosey. Yes, he played that, too.
"Sometimes luck falls from the tree of jazz," Thielemans quipped with a chuckle. "But for the `Sesame Street' gig, I only got $37, because it was educational."
Other tuneful morsels the band played included a mood-setting Brazilian ballad called "Let Us Start Again" and his trademark "Bluesette."
A nostalgic and inspirational feeling swept over the audience as the harmonica man huffed "What a Wonderful World." On stage, Wariner touched the piano with provocative intensity as if he were drawing from the music. But Thielemans' approach was different. He cradled his harmonica lovingly and appeared to tenderly kiss the instrument as he blew away the notes.