Exasperated by my obsessive investigations into arcane cultural niches, my life partner recently asked “how do you find these things?” She immediately forgets about my frequent commercial hip-hop and professional sports binges when our home is overtaken by Evan Parker’s free jazz or is monopolized by the experimental films of Bill Morrison.
With an increasingly tenuous ability to differentiate between approachable and inaccessible forms of art, I was pleasantly surprised when my partner stuck around for a screening of Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg). The loopy 1964 French film is unlike anything either of us had encountered.
Sung-through by a cast of remarkably attractive actors including Catherine Deneuve, the lush color schemes captured by cinematographer Jean Rabier and director Jacques Demy are stunning. Every element of the romantic tragedy is captivating in spite of the preposterous premise.
Michel Legrand’s ingenious score circumvents seemingly inevitable disaster. I’d previously thought of Legrand only as the composer of “The Windmills of Your Mind.” No more. Having abandoned attempts to exterminate Les Parapluies de Cherbourg earworms including "Chez Dubourg" and "A L'Appartement", I added Legrand’s sublime soundtrack to my regular rotation. The film streams on YouTube here.
---
The sixth episode of my In My Headache podcast is available for streaming. Aaron Rhodes and I ponder Flying Lotus’ Yasuke, Origami Angel’s Gami Gang and Ted Nugent’s 1975 debut solo album. Caveat: I remain annoyed by my collaborator’s decision to punk me with his selection of unflattering audio teasers.
---
The notes I posted five days ago at Plastic Sax are still the sole published analysis of the Billie Holiday at Sugar Hill: Photographs by Jerry Dantzic exhibit at the American Jazz Museum.