Cover of the 1979 album
Le Jazz Grand
I love the
creations of ‘old school’ film composers and Michel Legrand was one of the very
best. His compositional talents ranged from the neo-Baroque soundtrack to a
period film entitled The Go-Between
(1971) to the orchestral Jazz infused soundtrack to Steve McQueen’s racing epic
Le Mans from the same year.
He was an
accomplished Jazz artist and his collaborations with Miles Davis attest to the
high regard in which he was held.
He did have
his setbacks. His score for the 1976 film Robin
and Marian was rejected by the film’s producers who later assigned the task
to John Barry.
Like Charles
Aznavour, he was a Frenchman of Armenian descent, and very proud of this, once
remarking: “Armenian music flows in my blood.”
He’ll perhaps
best be known as the composer of the song “Windmills of Your Mind” which was
part of the soundtrack that he composed for The
Thomas Crown Affair (1968).
I only
discovered a few years ago that he sang “Les Moulins de Mon Coeur”, a version
of the song made famous by Noel Harrison, in a balladic, chanson-style. I had
no idea that this magnificent composer, arranger, conductor, and jazz pianist
was also an accomplished chanteur.
© Adeyinka
Makinde (2019)
Adeyinka
Makinde is a writer based in London, England.
No comments:
Post a Comment