Michel Legrand

BORN: February 24, 1932, Paris, France

Michel Legrand has made his fame and fortune from writing for films, but he has done significant work in jazz on an occasional basis. In 1957, he arranged a set of Dixieland and swing standards for a French orchestra (recorded on Philips), in 1958 he used three different all-star groups for the classic Legrand Jazz (with such sidemen as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Phil Woods, Herbie Mann, Bill Evans, Ben Webster, Art Farmer, and others), in 1968 he recorded a strictly jazz set with a trio and Legrand has written for albums led by Stan Getz (1971), Sarah Vaughan (1972), and on several occasions, Phil Woods. Several of his songs (such as "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life," "Watch What Happens," and "The Summer Knows") have been recorded many times by jazz musicians. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

The son of French composer Raymond Legrand, Michel Legrand studied at the Paris Conservatory before launching a career as a singer/bandleader. A film composer from the late '50s, Legrand scored his first international hit with The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964), a fond throwback to the airy Rene Clair musicals of the '30s. Legrand's style was usually described as "haunting," with emphasis on minor-key orchestrations and liberal usage of violins. He won Academy Awards for his work on The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) (which yielded the hit song "Windmills of My Mind"), Summer of '42 (1972) and Barbra Streisand's Yentl (1983), which like Umbrellas of Cherbourg was virtually wall-to-wall music. Much of Legrand's subsequent work has been unremarkable, tending to rely upon what had been successful in his past compositions. In 1989, Michel Legrand made his film directing bow with the semi-autobiographical Five Days in June. Eleven years earlier, an interview between Michel Legrand and TV host Mike Douglas resulted in an Emmy for Douglas' daytime chatfest. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide