With a career that goes back to World War II, Belgian-born Toots has played with everyone from Benny Goodman and Charlie Parker, to Paul Simon and Jaco Pastorius. Everyone has heard Toots, if not live or on record, then on the soundtrack of such movies as Midnight Cowboy, or playing the Sesame Street Theme, or whistling on that famous Old Spice ad on TV. Millions saw him on a Today Show feature in 2005, and 2700 more saw him in person at The Magic of Toots, a sold-out Carnegie Hall tribute in 2006. At his 80th Birthday week at the Blue Note in NYC, Billy Joel and Stevie Wonder stopped by to sit in, not surprising since Toots is revered by musical giants both young and old.

In 2012 Toots turns 90 and is enthusiastically preparing for spring and fall birthday tours in the States with his longtime pianist and musical director Kenny Werner, adding Brazilian guitarist Oscar Castro-Neves and percussionist Airto Moreira on some dates. No less an authority than Quincy Jones says of Toots, "he ranks with the best that jazz has ever produced," so contact me now and celebrate this legend's 90th birthday in your hometown.