Les Thimmig spent his formative years learning from the greats.

Les Thimmig was born the same year as Mick Jagger and only nine months ahead of Paul McCartney – but his true musical peers are the jazzmen of his Chicago-area youth. At age 6, Thimmig took up the clarinet, and by 13 was seated next to some of the top musicians of the 1950s, subbing in jazz bands and the pit for Broadway shows, and learning from the masters who set the stage for the rest of his career.