Michel Legrand by Michel Legrand

by Michel Legrand

Overview

Composer/pianist Michel Legrand worked with such musical luminaries as Miles Davis, Sarah Vaughan, and Dusty Springfield, is responsible for some of the most memorable film themes of the 20th century, and is easily mentioned alongside his contemporaries Henry Mancini, Andre Previn, Gil Evans, and Burt Bacharach. Amazingly though, he has never before recorded a solo piano album of his own songs. At 69 years old, Legrand finally delivers Michel Legrand By Michel Legrand, in which he covers some of his best material. While Legrand is a technically adroit musician and displays an Art Tatum-like inventiveness in his piano style, he really isn't so much a jazz pianist as a jazz impressionist, utilizing expanded harmonics and scale flourishes to re-conceptualize his songs into solo pieces. Hearing these instantly recognizable melodies performed in such an intimate way by the composer allows the listener to perhaps gain some insight into how Legrand might have originally conceived his arrangements. Legrand's songs have always contained the rhythms and harmonic nuances of jazz, but as they were recorded with strings or big bands for large movie soundtracks, some of the initial jazz influences may have become secondary. Here, they are rendered beautifully raw. One of the most successful reinterpretations is the soft ballad "How Do You Keep the Music Playing" (from Best Friends), which Legrand treats as a soulful, Herbie Hancock-style ballad. Similarly, the opening track, "I Will Wait for You" (from Les Parapluies de Cherbourg), begins with Legrand's starkly gorgeous melody line played by itself and builds to a swinging middle section that is pure Bill Evans. Just as successful is "The Windmills of Your Mind" (from The Thomas Crown Affair), featuring a klezmer-influenced melody that Legrand accents with swirling, McCoy Tyner-ish piano scales and then develops into a straight-ahead jazz ballad and later a ferocious gypsy-swing number. ~ Matt Collar

Product Details

Release Date:	04/16/2002
Label:	Decca / Universal Distribution
UPC:	0028946851227
Rank:	101799

Tracks

1. Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg), film score~I Will Wait for You (Je Ne Pourrai Jamais Vivre Sans Toi)
2. The Thomas Crown Affair, film score (1968)~The Windmills of Your Mind (Les Moulins de Mon C¿¿ur)
3. The Summer of '42, film score~The Summer Knows (L'¿¿t¿¿ 42)
4. Best Friends, film score~How Do You Keep the Music Playing?
5. Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg), film score~Watch What Happens
6. The Happy Ending, film score~What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?
7. The Thomas Crown Affair, film score (1968)~His Eyes, Her Eyes
8. Brian's Song, television film score~The Hands of Time
9. Le Passe-muraille, musical play~Ordinary Man (Un Homme Ordinaire)
10. The Picasso Summer, film score~Summer Me, Winter Me
11. Les Demoiselles de Rochefort (The Young Girls of Rochefort), film score~You Must Believe in Spring (La Chanson de Maxence)
12. La valse des Lilas (Once upon a summertime)
13. L' Amour fant¿¿me, musical play~L'Amour fant¿¿me
14. Yentl Medley for piano

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Michel Legrand   Primary Artist,Piano

Technical Credits

Clive Bennett   Producer,Recording,Executive Producer
Roland Guillotel   Engineer,Balance Engineer
Marilyn Bergman   Composer
Johnny Mercer   Composer
Michel Legrand   Arranger,Composer
Alan Bergman   Composer
Jacques Demy   Composer
Norman Gimbel   Composer
Alice Fields   Production Coordination
Jeremy Tilston   Art Direction
Don Heckman   Liner Notes
Eddie Barclay   Composer
Eddy Marnay   Composer