Michel Legrand - Lost in Music - Be Near Me '2021

Tracks list

Tracklist:

01. This Cant Be Love
02. Have You Met Miss Jones
03. Dont Get Around Much Anymore
04. The Lady Is a Tramp
05. Yesterdays
06. People Will Say Were in Love
07. Theres a Small Hotel
08. Stompin at the Savoy
09. Getting to Know You
10. Blue and Sentimental
11. A Wonderful Guy
12. Some Enchanted Evening
13. Round Midnight
14. With a Little Bit of Luck
15. Falling in Love with Love
16. Summertime
17. Jitterbug Waltz
18. It Might as Well Be Spring
19. My Funny Valentine
20. A Night in Tunisia
21. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
22. In a Mist
23. Nuages
24. Old Devil Moon


 Read MoreBorn in 1932 in Paris, Michel Jean Legrand grew up in a musical
family alongside his sister, soprano vocalist Christiane. His father was noted
composer and conductor Raymond Legrand and his mother was Marcelle
Ter-Mikaëlian, sister of saxophonist and bandleader Jacques Hélian.
Legrands father and mother split up when he was three, and he spent much of his
time alone. It was during this period that he discovered his talent for music
while playing a neighbors old piano. At age ten, his mother enrolled him in the
Paris Conservatory where he excelled studying under Nadia Boulanger, Henri
Challan, and Noël Gallon. Graduating with top honors, he embarked on his
professional career as musical director and accompanist to singer/actor Maurice
Chevalier. While with Chevalier, he toured the world, traveling for the first
time to the United States. It was during this period in 1950 that he also made
his solo debut with the chart-topping instrumental album I Love Paris. More
thematic and mood-based albums followed, including 1955s Holiday in Rome, 1956s
Bonjour Paris, and 1958s Legrand in Rio.

Following his success with his themed albums, Legrand recorded 1958s Legrand
Jazz, an ambitious all-star production featuring a bevy of name performers
including Miles Davis, Ben Webster, Herbie Mann, Phil Woods, and others. Also
during the 50s, Legrand expanded into film work beginning with the score to
director Henri Verneuils 1955 drama Les Amants du Tage. He quickly became known
for his work with auteurs of the French New Wave, composing for films by
Jean-Luc Godard, Agnès Varda, and François Reichenbach. He developed an
especially close creative partnership with director Jacques Demy, crafting the
innovative 1964 musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, which mixed stylized musical
traditions with a realists sensibility. One of the songs, Je ne pourrai jamais
vivre sans toi, gained popular acceptance and was covered by such luminaries as
Nana Mouskouri, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, and more. Legrand and Demy
continued to work together on films including 1966s The Young Girls of
Rochefort, and 1970s Donkey Skin.

In the late 60s, Legrand traveled to Hollywood and soon began splitting his time
between Paris and Los Angeles. In 1968, he scored director Norman Jewisons heist
film The Thomas Crown Affair. One of the most celebrated and sophisticated
soundtracks of its era, it won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for The
Windmills of Your Mind. Written by Legrand with English lyrics by Marilyn & Alan
Bergman, The Windmills of Your Mind marked a lasting relationship between
Legrand and the Bergmans, who collaborated often throughout the next 20 years.
They were again nominated for Best Original Song, both for What Are You Doing
the Rest of Your Life? from 1969s Happy Ending, and for Pieces of Dreams, the
theme from Daniel Hallers 1970 film of the same name. Other notable films
Legrand scored in the 70s include 1971s TV football drama Brians Song, 1971s The
Go-Between, and 1971s The Summer of 42. Both Brians Song and The Summer of 42
won the Grammy Awards for Best Instrumental Composition. In 1973, Legrand also
composed the music for Orson Welles docudrama F for Fake.

Apart from film work during this period, collaborated with bassist Ray Brown and
drummer Shelly Manne for a live trio concert issued as At Shellys Manne-Hole. He
also appeared on saxophonist Bud Shanks 1969 album Windmills of Your Mind. 1972s
Sarah Vaughan with Michel Legrand featured standards along with many of the
songs the pianist wrote with Marilyn & Alan Bergman. Also that year, he played
on and supplied the orchestration for Stan Getzs album Communications 72. He
then arranged vocalist Lena Hornes 1975 album Lena & Michel. That same year, he
supplied the orchestration for Phil Woods album Images, which won the Grammy
Awards for Best Instrumental Composition and Best Jazz Performance by a Big
Band. Le Jazz Grand arrived in 1978 and found Legrand leading a big band through
his Southern Routes jazz suite based on his soundtrack to the film Les Routes de
la Sud. The album also featured several septet tracks with altoist Woods,
trumpeter Jon Faddis, and baritonist Gerry Mulligan.

The 80s found Legrand continuing to move easily between soundtrack work and his
jazz-oriented recordings. On his own, Legrand recorded the 1982 septet album
After the Rain, again with Phil Woods, as well as tenor saxophonist Zoot Sims,
trumpeter Joe Wilder, guitarist Gene Bertoncini, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer
Grady Tate. The following year, he and the Bergmans picked up an Academy Award
Nomination for Best Original Song for How Do You Keep the Music Playing? from
the film of the same name. The song also became a Top Five Billboard Adult
Contemporary chart hit for James Ingram and Patti Austin.

Most famously, Legrand wrote the music for Barbara Streisands 1983 directorial
debut Yentl. Once again working with Marilyn & Alan Bergman, he co-wrote the
songs Papa, Can You Hear Me? and The Way He Makes Me Feel, both of which were
nominated for Best Original Song at the Academy Awards. Legrand ultimately took
home the award for Best Adaptation Score. Other soundtrack work during this
period included 1980s Elliot Gould and Susannah York rom-com Falling in Love
Again, a largely unused score for director Louis Malles 1981 film Atlantic City,
1982s Best Friends with Burt Reynolds and Goldie Hawn, and Sean Connerys 1983
return to the James Bond franchise Never Say Never Again, among others.

In 1991, Legrand reunited with Miles Davis for the soundtrack to the film Dingo
in which Davis also appeared. It was the first time they had worked together
since 1958s Legrand Jazz. The following year, he issued the trio album Autumn in
Paris, followed by a collaboration with violinist Stéphane Grappelli. He then
paired with opera singer Kiri Te Kanawa for 1992s Magic: Kiri Sings Michel
Legrand. Another classical album, Erik Satie by Michel Legrand, arrived the
following year, as did Michel Plays Legrand, in which he led an all-star group
featuring trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, trombonist Bill Watrous, altoist Bud Shank,
flutists Buddy Collette and Hubert Laws, guitarist John Pisano, bassist Brian
Bromberg, and drummer Peter Erskine. Another trio date, The Warm Shade of
Memory, appeared in 1995 and included a guest spot from harmonica player Toots
Thielemans. He also continued to do notable film work including supplying the
score to Paul Mazurskys 1993s satire of the Hollywood industry The Pickle,
Robert Altmans 1994 satire of the fashion industry Pret-A-Porter (Ready to
Wear), and director Claude Lelouchs 1995 version of Les Misérables.

In 2002, Legrand issued his first-ever solo piano recording of his own music,
Michel Legrand by Michel Legrand. He also stayed busy with film work, composing
the score for Claude Lelouchs thriller And Now...Ladies and Gentlemen starring
Jeremy Irons and singer Patricia Kaas. He wrote the music for the 2009
French-Belgian drama Oscar and the Lady in Pink. He then returned to his solo
work with his first holiday-themed album, 2011s Noel! Noel! Noel! Two years
later he paired with singer Natalie Dessay for the studio album Entre Elle et
Lui. In 2014, he premiered a ballet based on Hungarian playwright Ferenc
Molnárs 1909 play Liliom, which was commissioned by choreographer John
Neumeier and the Hamburg Ballet. Also that year, his opera Dreyfus opened at
Opéra de Nice. He also toured in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of The
Umbrellas of Cherbourg, and scored the film La Rançon de la Gloire (The Price
of Fame).

An all-star studio album, Michel Legrand & Ses Amis, arrived in 2015 and
featured appearances by Charles Aznavour, Muriel Robin, Thomas Dutronc, and
others. The following year, he received an honorary Doctorate from Western
Michigan University. He also toured alongside singer Vincent Niclo. In 2017, he
paired with the Orchestre Philharmonique de France for his classical album
Michel Legrand: Concerto pour piano; Concerto pour violoncelle. He also reunited
with Natalie Dessay for Between Yesterday and Tomorrow. In 2018, Legrand
provided the score for the long-uncompleted Orson Welles film The Other Side of
the Wind. Finally reconstructed by director Peter Bogdanovich, Welles film
premiered on Netflix that year, and featured newly orchestrated music from
Legrand, who had previously worked with Welles for 1973s F for Fake. Legrand
died early in 2019 after being hospitalized with a pulmonary infection. ~ Matt
Collar

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