Legrand's Parisian Piano, Sly and Swinging
Legrand sits at the piano in a relaxed, playful mood, trading the orchestral lushness of his film work for small-group jazz.
Paris Jazz Piano was released in 1960 on Philips Records, a few years into Michel Legrand's rise as a composer and arranger. By this point he was already known in France for his film scores and vocal arrangements, so this record shows a different side: Legrand as a jazz pianist first. It is a solo-and-small-group date that puts his keyboard style front and center, and it is worth hearing if you already know him from the big-band and orchestral material.
The playing is bright and bouncy, with Legrand's melodic sense and rhythmic wit on full display. He does not reach for anything grand or conceptual. He takes tunes, flips them around, pushes the tempo, and enjoys himself. The attack is clean and the comping is light, which keeps the mood buoyant rather than heavy. Listeners who expect the lushness of his later film scores will hear something leaner and more direct here.
As a place to start with Legrand, this is a reasonable entry point if you want the jazz side of him rather than the cinema side. It is not his most ambitious record, and it does not try to be. The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings gave it 3 out of 4 stars, a respectable mark that fits: solid, enjoyable, and more interesting to fans of Legrand than to casual listeners.
