Customer Rating: 
Summary: NICE!
Comment: I have just purchased this CD while making my usual friday
afternoon trips to the Virgin Mega Store and what a great holiday
gift I have gotten for myself. Harmonica is such a simple yet
magical instrument especially with Toots. All of the tracks from
this album is well-known, well-presented, and with that richness
what else can one ask for? I would recommend this CD to anyone
who enjoys decent music, get the CD, share the music along with
its warmness with your whole family, and winter fades in just a
matter of seconds.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Aural Revelation
Comment: It is always a pleasure to discover a great artist I've not heard before. Toots' playing is a revelation. I'd never imagined the harmonica as such an expressive jazz instrument. (Growing up in the 60s and 70's I'd limited it in my mind to the blues.) He combines great technique, graceful lines, and a great ear for melody and improvisation. I'm also impressed with the other artists he attracts to play with him. This album is a joy from start to finish.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Sheer beauty
Comment: As a fairly serious jazz music fan who loves rich harmonies, true melodies and vocalists who transcend the everyday, I was surprised and somewhat embarrassed to discover Toots Thielemans so late! In many other places, I'm sure, you can find descriptions of the virtuosity of this wonderful musician more lucid than I could provide. Yet, I have found myself so entranced by his music, as represented in this CD (among others), that I felt compelled to write a review here.
At least two of the pieces on this CD would have to rank in the top 100 of my all-time favorites. The music is very tastefully arranged and selected--but the guy's harmonica playing is about as close to sublime as one could possibly get with such an instrument.
I couldn't recommend this more highly to anyone with a love of France, and a love of beautiful music and superb musicianship that is never pretentious, ever fascinating.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Que Reste T'l De Nos Amours......
Comment: I was sitting here trying to remember what made me purchase this disc when in simply dawned on me! Listening to "Chez Toots" is rather like being transported back to Paris, sitting at a sidewalk cafe and enjoying the sights, sounds and yes, even the beautiful women that the City of Lights has to offer. I 'm not sure how but this disc has a certain intimacy to it that is hard to deny...but, than again why would you want to? The music can be terribly sentimental, maudlin and old-fashioned...and I love it! Few cd's can transport me such as this and make wish I were back in France with that old flame, a bottle of wine and so much more innocence. Songs such as " La Vie En Rose", "Sous Le Ciel De Paris" and "Moulin Rouge" literally can tug your heartstings with a certain world-weariness that comes into play on this cd. Of course having the wonderful Shirley Horn and Dianna Reeves only adds to the sheer beauty of this disc.Ooh La La....!! Toots was wise enough to understand that a disc such as this only works if you keep it honest, direct and with enough emotional integrity to make the listener aware just how much you truly love these songs. And it's terribly obvious how good of a time he is really having. And I guess that makes it so much easier for me to sit back, relax, and enjoy myself as well!
Overall, a cd that is warmly textured, comfortable like an old friend and one that simply asks of the listener to sit back and enjoy life...at least for a short while. So you may wish to pick up your own copy, buy a nice bottle of Chablis and a copy of Peter Mayle's " A Year In Provence" and settle in for the evening. Better yet...call up that old-flame! She may be thinking of you to. Bonsoir!
