Robin Sunflower Quartet: A Tribute to Toots Thielemans

Harmonica wizard Sunflower started playing the harmonica in the 80s, joining legendary bluesman Victor Brox & gigging extensively throughout the UK. In the early 90s he made the transition to chromatic harmonica after hearing the amazing playing of Belgian maestro Toots Thielemans.

By way of recognising this, at the end of April each year since 2011 Robin has convened a band to play Thielemans’ repertoire. If you don’t know the player, you’ll certainly have heard his playing – think ‘Midnight Cowboy’ and ’Sesame Street’. Thielemans’ first major gigs were with Benny Goodman in 1949; he went on to play with George Shearing ,Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock, Bill Evans, Jaco Pastorius, Oscar Peterson & Pat Metheny and with pop acts such as Paul Simon, Billy Joel and Julian Lennon. A man at the top of his game for over six decades, he retired from public performance in 2013. He died in August 2016 at the age of 94 - tomorrow would have been his 96th birthday.

Here's a beautiful clip of Thielemans playing with bassist Pastorius accompanying him - on piano!