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