Michel Legrand

Bio

Michel Legrand (1932–2019) was a French composer, arranger, conductor, and jazz pianist whose career spanned more than six decades. Born in Paris, he studied at the Conservatoire de Paris and quickly gained recognition for his innovative film scores, most notably for Jacques Demy’s The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) and The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967). His lush, jazz-inflected orchestrations earned him three Academy Awards and five Grammy Awards. Beyond cinema, Legrand recorded dozens of jazz albums as a bandleader and collaborated with artists such as Miles Davis, Sarah Vaughan, and Stéphane Grappelli. He also composed concert works, ballets, and musicals, and remained active as a performer into his eighties. Legrand died in Paris in 2019, leaving a catalogue that bridges popular song, jazz, and classical traditions.