Michel Legrand Orchestra ~ Theres a small Hotel ~ Lady is a Tramp

Courtesy of a luxuriant musicality, a catalogue of film scores and nonpareil romantic songs Michel Legrand's achievement as song composer and finest arranger orchestrator is without equal among contemporaries. Legrand's songs are occasionally informed by pop sensibility -- Breezy -- On my way to you -- Something new in my life. Others are moodily substantial ~ Between yesterday and tomorrow. Enveloping a winsome melody whimsy of Maybe Someone Dreamed Us ~songs instinct with affecting lyricism. . But these are jottings on an illustrious career beginning as Sinatra was moving into 1950s top gear rubbing shoulders with greats of music industry winning respect of peers. Jazz saxophonist Stan Getz commented favourably on Legrand's completeness as a musician. Getz and Legrand, ~poetically inclined musicians recorded Legrand's Communications ~ an early 1970s achievement to place beside Getz' Sauter vaunted Focus album . The Sauter Getz Legrand names constitute a triad in orchestral jazz. Legrand's schooling not just jazz surprised John Coltrane Miles Davis duo on arrival in New York to complete 1958 Legrand Jazz .with eras finest jazz musicians . It followed a sojourn in Hollywood for the demotic boot of Frankie Laine's Reunion in Rhythm. Legrand worked with charismatic jazz eminences ~ Miles Davis ~ Dizzy Gillespie from either end of the emotional spectrum Stylistically his undervalued 1963 Eva score is a brazen Miles mood but up tempo in contrast to rectilinear Davis the ebullient spirit of Dizzy Gillespie spurred Legrand's instincts on other albums .Legrands movie scores comprise a varied canvas from periodstyle Three Musketeers through dramatically ambitious Ice Station Zebra ~to contemporary scores tinctured with lodestar of jazz displayed on canvas of primary colours.~Spring and summer Legrand seasons For some ~Legrand's calling card the celebrated~ sung through ~ Les Parapluies de Cherbourg a cherished stop off in 1960s musical iconography but there is more to Legrand's talent spreading energies in many directions some like post 1970s Quincy Jones' perhaps of dubious long term viability but all representing an embracing need for artistic expression.
Perhaps it's Alan Marilyn Bergman input but Legrand Streisand musical Yentl marks a gain on colourful Les Demoiselles de Rochefort whose fleet jazzy songs ( excepting jazz standard You must Believe in Spring) perhaps betray instrumental inclinations . However ~ elaborately spun Yentl melodies rich in expressive detail are among the most accomplished and satisfying in Legrand's oeuvre. His mercurial brilliance thwarts mundane expectations.As suggested at a Legrand concert " it wasn't sufficiently nuanced. Understandable. Expecting an" Umbrellas" constituency to keep its head above water as Legrand powers ahead with heavy duty jazz ~an interesting ask. His teacher musician Nadia Boulanger stopped short of jazz but in a democratic world Monteverdi Legrand and jazz are a compatible fit. Since 1954s Once upon a Summertime a flow of melody in orchestral and song form. Among his output songs with stamp of a standard .
. Legrand's career kicked off officially aged 22 with earliest concept album dedicated to a city, I love Paris.~ Amid oodles city tribute albums the classic Legrand I Love Paris has not been bettered It led to a series of highly regarded orchestral albums noted inter alia for lissome versatility~ imaginative daring ~ even stopping the jazz world in wonderment ~ moving the composer to an International jazz ~orchestral circuit ~ albums for inside trackers a benchmark in brilliance of which Legrand is contemporary orchestral master. . His gift vivifying a canvas ~ with deft woodwind ~ is notable but elegant addition of strings is what swings it for some Legrand watchers His gifts range over the orchestra. The musicality became richer but the seamless technique was in place from the start. His albums are eloquent contemporary musical expressions . Legrand is an incessant musical quester ever approaching music afresh. As arranger orchestrator his is the art of variation. No two arrangements are facsimiles Good fortune led Legrand and jazz singer Sarah Vaughan into the studio for a spectacular assignment ~one of his and Sarah's finest albums. The catch exceeds 200 albums with numerous stylistically ranging film scores .. In 1970s Legrand dallied with electronics not an avant garde dalliance used on 20 songs of the 20the century to musical effect During 20th century the symphony was under threat. . Legrands music first ~affirmation did not ditch the conventional orchestra. Latterly he produced with singer Melissa Errico~ Legrand Affair finest contemporary album of its type repays listening ~ disconcerts criticism.