Title: Miles Davis : Lift to the Scaffold
Original title : Miles Davis: Ascenseur pour l'échafaud (Elevator to the Gallows)
Year: 1958
Genre : Modal Jazz, Cool Jazz
Artist : Miles Davis (trumpet), Barney Wilen (tenor saxophone), René Urtreger (piano), Pierre Michelot (bass), Kenny Clarke (drums)

Description:

Ascenseur pour l'échafaud is an album by jazz musician Miles Davis. It was recorded at Le Poste Parisien Studio in Paris on December 4 and 5 , 1957 . The album features the musical cues for the 1958 Louis Malle film Ascenseur pour l'échafaud.

Jean-Paul Rappeneau, a jazz fan and Malle's assistant at the time, suggested asking Miles Davis to create the film's soundtrack - possibly inspired by the Modern Jazz Quartet's recording for Roger Vadim's Sait-on jamais (Lit: 'Does One Ever Know', released as: 'No Sun in Venice'), released a few months earlier in 1957 .

Davis was booked to perform at the Club Saint-Germain in Paris for November 1957 . Rappeneau introduced him to Malle, and Davis agreed to record the music after attending a private screening. 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 precomposed theme, while edited loops of the musically relevant film sequences were projected in the background.

Jazz Track, an album which contains the original ten songs from the soundtrack and three additional tracks later released on the 1958 Miles CD, received a 1960 Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Performance, Solo or Small Group.

From a musical point of view, the mood and the characteristics of the soundtrack immediately precede and introduce to Miles Davis's masterpieces Milestones and Kind of Blue.

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Tracklist :
01. Generique
02. L'assassinat De Carala
03. Sur L'autoroute
04. Julien Dans L'ascenseur
05. Florence Sur Les Champs-elysees
06. Diner Au Motel
07. Evasion De Julien
08. Visite Du Vigile
09. Au Bar Du Petit Bac
10 . Chez Le Photographe Du Motel
11. Nuit Sur Les Champs-elysees (take 1)
12. Nuit Sur Les Champs-elysees (take 2)
13. Nuit Sur Les Champs-elysees (take 3 ) (generique)
14. Nuit Sur Les Champs-elysees (take 4 ) (florence Sur Les Champs-elysees)
15. Assassinat (take 1 ) (visite Du Vigile)
16. Assassinat (take 2 ) (julien Dans L'ascenseur)
17. Assassinat (take 3 ) (l'assassinat De Carala)
18. Motel (diner Au Motel)
19. Final (take 1)
20. Final (take 2)
21. Final (take 3 ) (chez Le Photographe Du Motel)
22. Ascenseur (evasion De Julien)
23. Le Petit Bal (take 1)
24. Le Petit Bal (take 2 ) (au Bar Du Petit Bac)
25. Sequence Voiture (take 1)
26. Sequence Voiture (take 2 ) (sur L'autoroute)

Issued: USA | Universal Music
Duration: 1:14:04