Customer Reviews

Ascenseur Pour L'Echafaud (Lift To The Scaffold): Original Soundtrack

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Recorded in one session in 1957 or '58, Miles Davis is backed by Barney Wilen on tenor saxophone, Rene Urtreger on piano, Pierre Michelot on contrabass, and Kenny Clarke on the drums, in this record (Verve 8363052, reissue 20 March 1989), which was also the soundtrack to the Louis Malle film L'Ascenseur Pour L'Echafaud.

This is a great record. Not one of the heavyweights of Davis' oeuvre, but absolutely a gem in its own right. The cool, spare compositions foreground Davis' trumpet. From the plaintive wail that opens "Générique" to the relaxed wanderings of "Nuit Sur Les Champs-Élysées," these pieces are as expressive and as emotional as Davis' other work of the same era. Yet the album is not simply Davis-plus-a-band. Barney Wilen's tenor sax is a full and effective counterweight to Davis' trumpet. Throughout "Au Bar du Petit Bac" the two dart and weave around each other, heading in the same direction, walking the same path, but with a difference as vivid and breathtaking as that space between Picasso and Matisse. Kenny Clarke tears it up on "Diner au Motel," playing so fast and far ahead that, at times, Davis seems to be pushing hard to keep pace with his rhythm section.

There is a great deal more to be said for this album, but the one word that comes to mind whenever I listen to any of these cuts, is "Yes." Even the alternate takes are a fascinating look into Davis' thinking, not only at a particular stage of his exploration, but more immediately: after a screening of the film, at the end of a European tour, late at night after a drink. I think this album is often overlooked by less-active jazz fans, and that's a shame. It might be one of the top five cool albums ever.

Twenty six tracks all written by Mr Davis performed by at least two other legendary musicians - Mr Pierre Michelot, bass, and Mr Kenny Clarke, drums - with sterling support by Mr Wilen on tenor and Mr Urtreger on piano with Mr Davis in an intoxicating love affair with the delicious and iconic actor Jeanne Moreau, must have brought out the best in him. A terrific album without one uninteresting musical moment, which must be included as one of the greatest sound tracks ever, and superior by far to say, Mr Davis at the Blackhawk. Brilliant.

In 1957, Louis Malle was 24 years. He was filthy rich. Incredibly handsome. And prodigiously talented --- he had already co-directed and shot Jacques Cousteau's Oscar-winning documentary, "The Silent World." Now he was ready to make his first feature.

He chose an overlooked noir novel about a man who kills his lover's husband, only to get trapped in the elevator while fleeing. His car gets stolen; complications multiply. Meanwhile, we --- and his lover --- wait to see if he'll get free before the police arrive.

Malle co-authored a clever, stylish script. He gave the film an ironic title: "Ascenseur Pour L'Echafaud," or "Elevator to the Gallows." As the lover, he hired Jeanne Moreau, a successful but not incendiary stage actress. And as his cinematographer, he chose the young innovator, Henri Decae.

And then this first-time director got Miles Davis to improvise and record the soundtrack.

Davis was then at the pinnacle. He had revolutionized jazz once already. Now he was turning away from hard-charging bursts of sound to a cooler, modal style that would change the dominant style of American jazz once again.

What could he have possibly seen in Louis Malle?

Fun.

"I was in Paris to play as a guest soloist for a few weeks," Davis later explained. "I met Louis through Juliette Greco. He told me he had always loved my music. I agreed to write the musical score for his film because it was a great learning experience --- I had never written a music score for a film before."

Davis didn't really "write" this one, either. Oh, he said he "looked at the rushes of the film and got musical ideas to write down." But his real genius was in hiring the great American jazz drummer Kenny Clarke and three French musicians and putting them in an environment that mirrored the mood of the movie. As Davis recalled: "Since it was about a murder and was supposed to be a suspense movie, I used this old, gloomy, dark building where I had the musicians play. I thought it would give the music atmosphere, and it did."

The soundtrack was recorded in a single, champagne-fueled session as Moreau and Malle looked on. At one point, a bit of Davis's lip blew into his mouthpiece; he pressed on. There were repeated takes of certain ideas; a number of tracks on the soundtrack are variations of earlier cuts.

No matter. This is one of the greatest jazz soundtracks in film --- some say the greatest. The trumpet couldn't be more evocative: mostly slow and breathy, thoughtful and tender, lonely and okay about it. In a word: cool. The quintessence of cool.

There was much to praise about the film, It used Paris like nothing before it; Malle presaged the New Wave. The final shot was made with a cameraman in a wheelchair; it proved that filmmakers could shoot at night without massive equipment. The film made Jeanne Moreau a movie star. And it launched Louis Malle's brilliant career.

The irony of the Malle-Davis collaboration is that Malle never explored noir again --- indeed, he made it a point to direct only one movie per genre. But the ideas of composition that Davis was working out in this movie soundtrack would come to full bloom a few years later, in his classic Kind of Blue (with John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderly and Bill Evans).

The soundtrack, mesmerizing and evocative at the time, has become more important as the years go by. It's a thrilling artifact and a deep experience for the serious jazz fan. And if you're shallow like me --- if you like music without lyrics at dinner --- you get two CDs for the price of one. The first is about the airy beauty of the music. The second is about guests asking what they're listening to.

In this case, your friends will know who's on that trumpet. But they'll have no idea this soundtrack even exists. Which makes you fractionally as cool as Miles.

Recorded within weeks of Kind of Blue, this was a chance for a love-struck Miles Davis (Juliet Greco, if I am correct) living in Paris for a few months playing his heart out with all of his skills at the peak of his talents with an excellent European band. If you love Kind of Blue, this is Miles with those skills set against musicians and a movie drawing fresh inspiration from him. What a wonderful gift that this is now available with alternative takes.
'fessor Mojo AKA Bill Donoghue

A friend told me that this was the perfect late night music (preferably if it were raining or foggy). I have to agree. It's moody, with occasional bits of brooding. Final (take 2) is the perfect example of yearning and longing turned into music. It's the kind of emotion only Miles Davis can create.

If you're looking for music to keep you company and set the tone, this is the album for you.

I have this Lp from 1960 and for 38 years i heard it and every time i like it better!!!. Every time I think the music get better. She makes me happy!. This record pushed me to buy saxophone and to be professional musician for 35 years in Athens. Great, Great, bravo Miles & thank you.

For those of you who are old enough to remember the Columbia LP with "On Green Dolphin Street," "Fran-Dance" and "Stella by Starlight" on one side and the soundtrack of ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS on the other, here is a more precise description of the tracks on this CD: the last 10 tracks, 17 to 26, are the soundtrack with echo that you remember from the LP. The other tracks, 1 to 16, are either alternate takes or takes identical to the echo takes, but without the echo. So, the soundtrack as you remember it is safely included on this disc. I used my CDR to record tracks 17 to 26 twice. I then used track 18, "The murder of Carala," as the final song of my mix, because Track 26 doesn't sound good as the finale. To my ear Miles Davis's sound is captured better here than on KIND OF BLUE. This is a superb mood album, very nocturnal and mysterious, as other reviewers have said. Above all, it could not have been made by any artist of any period except Miles Davis. This adds to its distinction. When the session was over, Miles Davis said, "I'll never do this again." Fortunately for us, he did it once, brilliantly.

I'll admit that I'm not the biggest jazz fan, but I do know what I like. I bought this CD on a recommendation -- looking for something different -- and could not have been more pleasantly surprised. The fact that this was a spot recording of a movie soundtrack (yes, there are some repetitions) allows this album to flow better than the other Miles Davis' albums I've heard. It is pensive and moody, but it's the feel of a smokey room and good bourbon. I now put this baby on whenever I need something relaxing in the background that allows my focus to come and go as it wishes, or when I just want to lie on the sofa and chill while staring at the ceiling. It may not be "essential" Miles, but it is a great album.

This record is clearly a soundtrack, but it's also THE soundtrack for any improvising jazz soul. Most of the tracks appear in alternate versions, it doesn't matter really, just adds to the mood. The mood on this record is so dense you can almost cut through it. Miles plays with such conviction, as if he has finally found his own suberb sound. Its spare and stark yet in a very sophisticated way.The teaming with with Kenny Clarke and the 3 french musicians is great, Barry Wilen the saxophonist makes the best of the opportunity, dancing along with Miles, making this essential listening. Tracks like "Chez Le Photographe Du Motel" and "Au Bar Du Petit Bac", will forever leave memories in my mind of quiet sunny days just pondering on the subtlety of life.

I have many recordings by Miles...but this is the most seductive. No..its not cool Miles...it is Miles at his warmest. You can close your eyes and imagine being in a smoked filled cafe on a damp, cold day in Paris with someone you want despeately to make love to. It may not be his most sophisticated compositon, but it is extremely sensuous!