Miles Davis – Ascenseur Pour L'Échafaud OST

Contradictory accounts of Miles Davis’ creation of the soundtrack to Louis Malle’s film noir Ascenseur pour l'Échafaud have all become part of its legend. While the film wasn’t the first film to use a jazz soundtrack or to feature jazz musicians, it was the first to show an absolute integration of jazz music into a feature film whose story had nothing to do with jazz or even with music itself. It employed jazz to emphasize the dramatic action and to develop and support the film’s climax.

Nearly seventy years on, beyond the myth, this taut, feverish recording, imbued with extreme dramatic tension, remains one of the Miles’ finest records. The basic outline remains: Jean-Paul Rappeneau suggested to Malle asking Miles Davis to create the film's soundtrack, who agreed to record the music after attending a private screening.

Davis was  performing at the Club Saint-Germain in Paris in November 1957 and on December 4, he brought his four sidemen to the recording studio without having had them prepare anything. Davis only gave the musicians a few rudimentary harmonic sequences he had assembled in his hotel room, and, once the plot was explained, the band improvised without any pre-composed theme, while edited loops of the musically relevant film sequences were projected in the background.

Bassist Pierre Michelot recalled in 1988 that “Miles just asked us to play two chords, D minor and C7, 4 bars of each, ad lib.” Typically, Miles planned very little but know exactly what he wanted. Franck Bergerot.

Decca France presents this beautiful limited edition re-issue of the original recording, pressed on 180g vinyl and packaged in a deluxe gatefold tip-on jacket with Boris Vian’s original liner notes and Jean-Pierre Leloir’s iconic studio photo of Miles and Jeanne Moreau; included is an insert with an essay on the circumstances that led to this out-of-the ordinary music by Franck Bergerot.

Tracklist:
Générique
L'Assassinat De Carala
Sur L'Autoroute
Julien Dans L'Ascenseur
Florence Sur Les Champs-Élysées
Dîner Au Motel
Évasion De Julien
Visite Du Vigile
Au Bar Du Petit Bac
Chez Le Photographe Du Motel