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‘Reviews of Chip’s vocal on Toots Thieleman’s album’

"On this unusual CD, the remarkable harmonica player Toots Thielemans explores a variety of mostly French melodies. The music is often nostalgic and wistful but generally swinging, with enough different tempos to hold one's interest throughout.

The oddest aspect of the set is that there is an overdubbed vocal apiece by Diana Krall ('La Vie en Rose' , Dianne Reeves Johnny Mathis Shirley Horn and a promising newcomer known here only as Chip Krall Reeves and Chip sing in French. Thielemans plays beautifully throughout the relaxed date, which includes 'I Wish You Love', 'The Windmills of Your Mind', 'Once Upon a Summertime', and 'Moulin Rouge'." Easily recommended. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

Toots Thielemans - Chez Toots
Private Music
Musicians: Toots Thielemans (harmonica), Bert van den Brink (piano), Hein Van de Geyn (bass), Andre Ceccarelli (drums), with featured guest artists Diana Krall, Chip Jenkins, Dianne Reeves, Shirley Horn and Johnny Mathis (vocals) and Philip Catherine (guitar)
Songs: Sous Le Ciel de Paris, La Vie en Rose, Valse No. 2, Dance for Victor, Hymne a L'Amour (If You Love Me, Really Love Me), Que Reste-T'il de Nos Amours (I Wish You Love), Old Friend, Un Jour tu Verras, For My Lady, Ne Me Quitte Pas, Les Moulins de Mon Couer (The Windmills of Your Mind), Le Temps des Cerises
Rating: * * * 1/2

Leave it to chromatic harmonica master Toots Thielemans to stretch the inner (not outer) envelope of jazz with CHEZ TOOTS. Of course, the 76-year-old Toots did that long ago with his choice of "horn," an instrument that is usually associated with blues or country music. In a recent interview with "Jazz Times" magazine, the Belgian-born Thielemans recounted that his first instrument was the accordion, which he heard at his parents' sidewalk cafe in Brussels and on which he started at the age of four. He first heard the harmonica in a 1930's movie featuring the famous Larry Adler, who had played with Duke Ellington and Django Reinhart. "Then I bought a harmonica for fun. I didn't know anything about jazz. I just listened to things like boogie woogie," Thielemans says. Eventually, he fell in love with the guitar and Django and Lester Young and bebop, joining the George Shearing Quintet soon after he arrived in the United States in the early 1950's. Shearing now and then featured Toots on the harmonica, and it would become his main instrument on movie soundtracks like "Midnight Cowboy" and on a run of outstanding jazz albums like "Images," a rare 1974 date with pianist Joanne Brackeen that was recently reissued on Candid/Choice.

On jazz anthems like Sonny Rollins' "Airegin" or Coltrane's "Giant Steps," Toots can hold his own with any saxophonist. But there are people who can't abide the sound of the "harp." Toots like to tell this anecdote: "A jazz writer once said, 'We all know Toots is one of Quincy Jones' favorite living musicians. He would be mine too, if he didn't play that goddamn harmonica'." Toots admits, "It's a matter of being allergic to caviar or oysters. You like or you don't." I like it (caviar, oysters, Toots' harmonica) and I surely like CHEZ TOOTS. a selection of mostly French songs played with a European rhythm section and featuring guest American vocalists Diana Krall, Dianne Reeves, Shirley Horn, Johnny Mathis and the mysterious "Chip" on five tracks. Highlights include "La Valse des Lilas" (better known as "The Windmills of Your Mind" with Shirley Horn; "La Vie en Rose," on which Toots accompanied Edith Piaf but which is sung here by Diana Krall; and the original "For My Lady." But who is Chip, the beautiful voice in French on "Hymne a L'Amour"?

Reviewed By: Les Line
52nd Street Jazz