MOYA @ Toots 100 years

Toots, today a 100 years old, my special and very musical God. I’m glad I got to see, hear and meet him often. Here, in 2002, when I had been playing the chromatic harmonica myself for just two years, on exactly one like Toots, I gave him a silver mouthpiece that I had invented and designed myself. So that he could blow octaves more easily and then the harmonica sounds like an accordion. He thought it was very special, he had never seen anything like it before and thought it was a smart idea. Of course he could easily blow octaves without this lazy mouthpiece. When you hear Toots play, you dream away to a better world. I remember going to one of his concerts in San Francisco during SF Jazz. I went with my friends Kitty and Maaike and we had one ticket too many, so we gave it away to a homeless man, who stood in front of the concert hall with headphones on and sang. He was surprised. Security wouldn’t let him in at first, but he really did have a valid ticket. The homeless man loved the concert so much, he was in tears just like us. Dear Toots, today 100 years and I’m sure you will also turn 200 because you are in the hearts of many.