Film Forum NYC, one of my favorite places to catch art films here in the West Village, is currently having an extended run with Jacques Demy's eternal The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964, starring Catherine Deneuve). It's still vividly effective today with its eye-popping color scheme and operatic jazz-inflected score by the great composer Michel Legrand. This is really good news for all lovers of classic arthouse cinema and the most elegant of film music.
I first saw Umbrellas with my best friend, Walter Horn, at the Eckel Theatre in Syracuse when it was re-released in 1967 on an insane double bill paired with Sidney Lumet's The Pawnbroker (1964, starring Rod Steiger, with an excellent score by Quincy Jones). The contrast between the soaring, pastel-colored movie musical of "big emotions" and Lumet's Holocaust-drenched gritty black-and-white mise-en-scene could not have been greater—yet I fell in love with them both back in the day and still revere them.
Many years later, in 2008, I saw Michel Legrand, a multiple Grammy and Oscar Award winner, perform here with a trio that included Ron Carter on bass and Lewis Nash on drums at the Birdland Jazz Club off Times Square.
Legrand's film music contributions over the years have been staggering—from his noir-ish score for Jean-Luc Godard's 1964 Bande a Part to pop hits like "The Windmills of Your Mind" (from 1968's The Thomas Crowne Affair) and his very popular scores for 1971's Summer of '42, and Barbra Streisand's Yentl (1983).
I saw him play at Birdland, and he was phenomenal. At age 76, he was tripping the light fantastic on the piano.
I brought with me a DVD copy of one of my favorite films, Joseph Losey's savage Eva (1962, starring Jeanne Moreau and Stanley Baker), which boasts an incredible harpsichord-inflected moody jazz score by Legrand.
After the show, I sought out his autograph on the DVD cover.
I waited patiently while the throng of his fans seeking autographs (mainly what looked like older suburban housewives who had bonded intensely with "The Windmills of Your Mind" and Summer of '42) thinned out.
At last, I got my moment:
"Monsieur Legrand, I am a huge fan of your music, especially your score for Bande a Part."
Legrand kind of winced here, as Godard credits him in the film's title sequence: "pour la dernière fois à l´ecran (?) la musique de Michel Legrand”).
“And also for Joseph Losey's Eva."
I stepped forward and offered him my DVD copy to sign, which he graciously obliged me. I went on:
"I'm a guitarist and songwriter-composer myself. I don't know if you know my work, but I wrote the music for Jeff Buckley's 'Grace' and 'Mojo Pin.'"
Legrand lit up (Jeff being huge in France) and thrust his hand out.
"Monsieur, please let me shake YOUR hand!”
A real, real thrill for me.