Tag Archives: Toots Thielemans

Shirley Horn

On October 20, 2005, Shirley Valerie Horn died aged 71. She was singer and musician (piano),  became one of the best known and most successful female singers in the jazz history. Horn performed and recorded with many jazz greats including Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Toots Thielemans, Ron Carter, Carmen McRae, Wynton Marsalis, Stuff Smith, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Charlie Haden, Oscar Peterson,  Joe Williams, Jeffery Smith, Clark Terry, Bill Charlap and others. For her work she had received many awards including: “Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance”; “National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Award”, and “Honorary Doctor of Music Degree” from the “Berklee College of Music”.

Mongo Santamaria

On February 1, 2003, Ramón “Mongo” Santamaría Rodríguez died aged 85. He was musician (congas, bongos), performed and recorded with Perez Prado, Tito Puente, Cal Tjader, Fania All Stars, Dizzy Gillespie, Toots Thielemans, Lalo Schifrin and Paul Horn. His 1977 album “Amanecer” won a “Grammy” award, and his hit rendition of Herbie Hancock’s “Watermelon Man” was inducted into the “Grammy Hall of Fame” in 1998. He is composer of the jazz standard “Afro Blue”, recorded by John Coltrane among others.