Michel Legrand Plays Michel Legrand
If the American pop culture profile of French composer-jazz pianist Michel Legrand doesn't seem what it once was, don't be misled: his European indie film scores continue six decades on, now numbering nearly 200. But Legrand's most beloved work remains the lovely, evocative themes he created in the '60s and '70s, including "I Will Wait for You" fromThe Umbrellas of Cherbourg,The Thomas Crown Affair's "Windmills of Your Mind," the theme fromSummer of '42, and his work on Barbra Streisand'sYentl. This collection marks Legrand's first solo piano recordings, presenting those and other film score highlights in spontaneously improvised performances that offer a glimpse of Legrand's musical soul. If, as in "Windmills," his enthusiasm gets the best of him and he occasionally lapses into flights of melodramatic pianistic self-parody, there are more than enough sublime moments here to compensate, especially on lesser-known songs likeBest Friends' "How Do You Keep the Music Playing?," "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?" fromThe Happy Ending, andBrian's Song's "Hands of Time."--Jerry McCulley