Michel Legrand - Cole Porter '2022

Tracks list

Tracklist:

01. Begin The Beguine
02. In The Still Of The Night
03. Just One Of Those Things
04. Ev'rytime We Say Goodbye
05. What Is This Thing Called Love
06. True Love
07. Ridin' High
08. Love Of My Life
09. Too Darn Hot
10. So In Love
11. Don't Fence Me In
12. Anything Goes
13. Love For Sale
14. Close
15. I Get A Kick Out Of You
16. I Love You
17. It's All Right With Me
18. I Am In Love
19. Night And Day
20. You Do Something To Me
21. From This Moment On
22. All Through The Night
23. I've Got You Under My Skin
24. Blow Gabriel Blow


 Read Full BiographyBorn 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.
Legrand's 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 neighbor's 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 1955's Holiday in Rome,
1956's Bonjour Paris, and 1958's Legrand in Rio.

Following his success with his themed albums, Legrand recorded 1958's 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 Verneuil's 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 realist's 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 1966's The Young Girls of
Rochefort, and 1970's 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 Jewison's
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 1969's Happy Ending, and for "Pieces of Dreams,"
the theme from Daniel Haller's 1970 film of the same name. Other notable films
Legrand scored in the '70s include 1971's TV football drama Brian's Song, 1971's
The Go-Between, and 1971's The Summer of '42. Both Brian's 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 Shelly's Manne-Hole.
He also appeared on saxophonist Bud Shank's 1969 album Windmills of Your Mind.
1972's 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 Getz's album Communications
'72. He then arranged vocalist Lena Horne's 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 Streisand's 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 1980's Elliot Gould and Susannah York rom-com Falling in Love
Again, a largely unused score for director Louis Malle's 1981 film Atlantic
City, 1982's Best Friends with Burt Reynolds and Goldie Hawn, and Sean Connery's
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 1958's 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 1992's 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 Mazursky's 1993's satire of the Hollywood industry The Pickle,
Robert Altman's 1994 satire of the fashion industry Pret-A-Porter (Ready to
Wear), and director Claude Lelouch's 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 Lelouch's 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, 2011's 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
Molnár's 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 1973's F for Fake. Legrand
died early in 2019 after being hospitalized with a pulmonary infection. ~ Matt
Collar

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