# Michel Legrand – singer, composer, arranger, conductor, producer: Video

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2018/02/24/michel-legrand-singer-composer-arranger-conductor-producer-video/
- Published: 2018-02-24T00:04:58+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**24.02. – Happy Birthday !!! It is difficult to pin the multi-talented Michel Legrand
down into one single category. This amazingly versatile French singer, songwriter,
composer, arranger, conductor and producer has enjoyed a whirlwind career, excelling
in an impressively broad range of domains from film soundtracks and French ‘chanson’
to jazz and classical music. An international star, who has won as much respect 
in the States as he has in Europe, Legrand is an insatiable musician whose creativity
and ambition appear to know no bounds.**

Michel Legrand was born in Bécon-les-Bruyères, in the Paris suburbs, on 24 February
1932. His mother, Marcelle der Mikaelian, married Raymond Legrand, a French musician
renowned for hits such as “Irma la douce.” Michel spent a rather solitary childhood,
growing up with his sister, Christiane. He revealed a prodigious musical talent 
at an early age, playing the piano when he was just four years old. As a child, 
he was fascinated about the life of composer Franz Schubert. Michel eventually went
on to train at the Paris Conservatoire in 1942. He spent seven years there, studying
under renowned teachers such as Nadia Boulanger, Henri Challan, Noël Gallon and 
Lucette Descaves. The young prodigy went on to win numerous awards for his skills
in counterpoint, piano, fugue and ‘solfège’ (an award he received on 6 June 1944).

In the immediate post-war years, Michel Legrand discovered a new passion: jazz. 
The moment that triggered off this musical conversion was when he attended a concert
by Dizzy Gillespie “ and left, totally blown away by what he had seen! By the time
he graduated from the Conservatoire in 1949, Legrand had mastered a dozen instruments.
And he found himself launched straight into the world of French ‘chanson,’ thanks
to introductions from his father (with whom he had renewed ties by this point). 
The gifted teenager was soon working as an accompanist to many of the major French
stars of the day including Henri Salvador, Juliette Gréco, Zizi Jeanmaire and Catherine
Sauvage.

In 1954, Legrand stepped from the accompanying shadows centre stage when the American
record label Columbia-EMI commissioned him to make an album of English adaptations
of French classics. The album “I Love Paris” went on to sell a staggering 8 million
copies, turning Legrand into an overnight star both at home and abroad. It was at
this point that legendary French ‘chanson’ star Maurice Chevalier approached Legrand
and offered him a post as his musical director. Legrand accepted and, in Chevalier’s
company, flew across the Atlantic, discovering the States in the course of numerous
tours.

Meanwhile, Legrand’s own solo career continued to go from strength to strength. 
He recorded a whole string of albums: “Holiday In Rome,” (1955) “Michel Legrand 
Plays Cole Porter,” (1957) and “Legrand In Rio,” (1958) all released on the Philips
label, directed by Jacques Canetti. One of the high points of Legrand’s early recording
career was his 1956 album recorded with Boris and Henri Salvador (aka Henri Cording)
under the pseudonym Big Mike “ a nickname Jean Cocteau had bestowed upon him! The
following year, Legrand was invited to the USSR to perform at the Student Youth 
Festival. It was on this trip that he met his future wife, a young French model 
with who he went on to have three children (Hervé, Benjamin and Emilie).

In 1958, Legrand headed back across the Atlantic to the States and spent valuable
time in New York, directing studio sessions where he mixed with the crème de la 
crème of the jazz world, working with the likes of Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill
Evans and Ben Webster. The album “Legrand Jazz” was a result of this white-hot jazz
period.

In 1955, Michel Legrand branched out in a new direction, writing the music for Henri
Verneuil’s film “Amants du Tage,” under the pseudonym Lucien Legrand. But Legrand’s
involvement in the world of French cinema really began in earnest in the late 50s
when he was caught up in the French New Wave. Working in close collaboration with
a new breed of French directors, Legrand kept up a hectic non-stop schedule, composing
soundtracks for up to a dozen feature films and television films a year.

Between 1961 and 1967, Legrand scored seven films for directors Jean-Luc Godard,
and Jacques Demy, with whom he would work on ten major feature films between 1961
and 1988. In short, Michel Legrand was responsible for creating a new – either much-
loved or much-hated – genre in the French film world: the musical! Besides working
with the most avant-garde directors of the “Nouvelle Vague”, Legrand also collaborated
with a number of more ‘traditional’ French film-makers such as Gilles Grangier and
Yves Allégret. He soon found himself in great demand abroad, too. The first foreign
director to recognise Legrand’s talent was Joseph Losey (for whom Legrand scored“
Eva” in 1962). Losey and Legrand subsequently worked together on another three occasions,
most famously for “The Go-Between” (which won the ‘Palme d’or’ at the Cannes film
festival in 1971).

Legrand had long been familiar with the French ‘chanson’ world, having accompanied
some of its biggest stars when he was a young 20-year-old just starting out in the
business. He had also put in several years at the Philips label, orchestrating countless
songs for the big names of the day. When Legrand met the famous Toulousan singer
Claude Nougaro in 1962, the two men hit it off immediately thanks to their shared
passion for jazz. The pair even went on to write a number of Nougaro classics together
including “Les Dom Juan” and “Le Cinéma.” Legrand also went on to compose and arrange
material for Serge Reggiani in 1970 and he worked with Yves Montand, too, composing
hits such as “Coucher avec elle.” Meanwhile, Legrand’s songs were covered by a number
of international stars from Liza Minnelli to Greek diva Nana Mouskouri.

But it was Jacques Brel, a singer for whom Legrand had written arrangements in the
50s, that was to play a decisive role in Legrand’s career , for Brel was the one
that persuaded him to get up behind the microphone and start performing his own 
work. As early as 1964, Legrand began building his own repertoire with a helping
hand from Eddy Marnay and Jean Dréjac (for the lyrics). Over the following years,
he would also work with the likes of Jean-Loup Dabadie, Boris Bergman, Jean Guidoni
and novelist (and occasional songwriter) Françoise Sagan. Ever eager to branch out
and conquer new territory, Michel Legrand set off for Los Angeles in 1966, with 
his wife and three children in tow. He spent three years there, which turned out
to be an amazingly productive period for him. In 1968, Legrand sat down and wrote
the soundtrack to Norman Jewison’s swinging 60s film “The Thomas Crown Affair.” 
The theme tune from the movie, “The Windmills Of Your Mind”, (”Les Moulins de mon
c”ur”) which featured French lyrics by Eddy Marnay and English lyrics by Alan and
Marilyn Bergman went on to become a huge hit. In fact, Legrand ended up scooping
the Oscar for Best Film Theme Song in 1969. What’s more, he won another famous gold
statue two years later for Best Film Music thanks to “The Summer of ’42”, a film
which was famous for its theme song “The Summer Knows” (French lyrics by Jean Dréjac,
English lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman) performed by Barbra Streisand.

Needless to say, Michel Legrand went on to become a major star in the U.S. Indeed,
he soon became such a household name that he was soon invited to appear on all the
prime time chat shows from The Maurice Chevalier Show and The Danny Kaye Show to
The Shirley Bassey Special. Legrand, who was nominated for a Grammy Award no less
than 27 times, carried off the prestigious prize five times between 1971 and 1975.

America at that time also meant jazz, of course. And, jazz being one of Legrand’s
greatest passions in life, he went on to perform several concerts with Ray Brown
in 1968 in the famous L.A. club, Shelly’s Manne-Hole. The album, “Verve”, was produced
as a result of this.

Legrand’s astounding versatility continued, if anything increasing over the years.
He took his film work to new heights, working with Clint Eastwood in 1973 and Orson
Welles in 1976. In 1983, his theme tune to Barbra Streisand’s movie “Yentl” won 
him yet another Oscar. Later that same year, Legrand wrote the score for “Never 
Say Never Again” (the last James Bond film starring Sean Connery). Meanwhile, he
also extended his work to the theatre, writing the music for Jean-Louis Barrault’s
play “Jarry sur la butte” (1970) and “Monte Cristo” in 1975.

In January 1972, Legrand took to the stage in his own right, performing a successful
run at the Olympia (in Paris) with the singer Caterina Valente. In 1975, he gave
a helping hand to a young unknown singer, Jean Guidoni, helping assure his promote
him as a new talent.

In 1974, Michel Legrand suffered a blow in his personal life when he lost his father,
Raymond Legrand.

In the 80s, Legrand chose to devote his time and energy to jazz, forming a trio 
with drummer André Ceccarelli and double-bass virtuoso Marc-Michel Le Bévillon. 
The threesome went on to make three albums together. In 1982, Legrand pulled off
another major musical exploit, getting the two famous saxophonists, Phil Woods and
Zoot Sims, together in the studio to make the album “After The Rain.” Later that
year, Legrand was responsible for organising the mega-Shirley Bassey show which 
opened Midem (the annual record industry fair in Cannes). His first solo album as
a singer since 1972 was also released at this point.

In the late 80s, as part of the official celebrations for the Bicentenary of the
French Revolution, Michel Legrand staged the première of his oratorio (based on 
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights) in Lyon. And he ended the decade branching
out in a totally new direction, stepping behind the camera to direct his own film.“
Cinq jours en juin”, starring Sabine Azema and Annie Girardot, hit French cinema
screens in 1989, but failed to make a major impact on cinema-goers or the critics.

Following his work as part of a jazz trio, Legrand changed musical format in the
90s, creating a big band which he took on several international tours in subsequent
years, accompanying Ray Charles, Diana Ross and Icelandic pop diva Björk. He then
went off to Suresnes to record an album with the orchestra (which featured a number
of well-known musicians including the Belmondo brothers). The album was released
in September 1999. Legrand also organised a show at the Olympia for French violinist
Stéphane Grappelli who celebrated his 85th birthday in 1992. (A CD was released 
to mark the occasion).

In 1995, Michel Legrand got down to his composing work, writing new material for
Jean Guidoni’s album “Vertigo”. The pair took to the stage together at the Casino
de Paris in 1996 for a joint show which won a coveted “Victoire de la musique” award.
Throughout the 90s, Legrand returned to his classical roots on several occasions.
He recorded several CDs with the trumpet-player Maurice André (in 1998 and 2004),
staged performances of Erik Satie’s work three times (in 1993, 1999 and 2002) and
conducted requiems by Fauré and Duruflé in 1994. In the meantime, a number of songs
from his own repertoire were covered by the world-famous opera singer Kiri te Kanawa
on an album entitled “Kiri Sings Michel Legrand.”

In 1997, working in collaboration with the playwright Didier Van Cauwelaert, Legrand
staged a new show “Le Passe Muraille” (based on Marcel Aymé’s work) at Les Bouffes
Parisiens. The show proved to be a big hit with theatre-goers and Legrand also took“
Le Passe Muraille” to Japan in 2000. But when, in 2002, he attempted to reinvent
the show on Broadway in a new adaptation, “Amour”, it proved to be a total flop.

Various Legrand compilations have been available on the international scene since
the 1980s. But in 2001, Mercury/Universal finally got round to releasing an official
Legrand anthology, summing up the versatile singer-composer-musician’s career. The
year before, a major tribute was staged to Michel Legrand when a bevy of stars performed
his classics at an open-air concert in the courtyard of the Louvre as part of the
annual “Fête de la musique.” In 2003, Legrand received recognition at an even higher
level, when he was presented with the ‘Légion d’honneur’. Snowed under with honours,
music awards and Oscars, this formidable talent has never let fame go to his head
or dull his prodigious artistic appetite.

In 2005, Universal Jazz released “Le Cinéma de Michel Legrand”, a boxed set compilation
featuring Legrand’s best known film soundtracks. But Legrand himself appeared reluctant
to focus on the past and was not involved in the production of this ‘greatest film
hits.’ The 4 CD set proved to be a veritable musical treasure trove, however, featuring
90 tracks composed in the course of Legrand’s 50-year career.

In June 2005, Legrand returned to the studio. This time round, it was not to compose
his own work, however, but to pay tribute to his late friend and music colleague,
the Toulousan singer Claude Nougaro (who died in 2004). Working with a number of
leading jazz musicians and using tapes of Nougaro’s voice, Legrand recorded new 
versions of many of the “Little Bull’s” lesser-known songs which they had written
together in the course of various collaborations. The album “Legrand Nougaro” also
included reworkings of Nougaro classics such as “Don Juan”, “Le Cinéma” and “Le 
Rouge et le Noir.” The album, which proved to be more of a jazz extravaganza than
a strictly ‘chanson’ affair, featured a special bonus, including a new song “Mon
Dernier Concert” (which Nougaro had written before his death but never recorded 
himself).

![Image result for Michel Legrand](https://i0.wp.com/www.fasartsmanagement.com/wp-
content/uploads/2015/01/DL-3-CR.jpg?w=640)

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