Ascenseur pour l'échafaud (soundtrack)
| Ascenseur pour l'échafaud | ||||
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| Soundtrack by Miles Davis | ||||
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| Label (s) | Fontana Records | |||
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running time |
68:48 |
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Studio (s) |
Le Poste Parisien Studios, Paris |
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Ascenseur pour l'échafaud is a jazz album by Miles Davis . It was recorded on December 4th and 5th, 1957 in Paris and released in 1958 on the Fontana Records label. The music is the soundtrack to the film Elevator to the Scaffold by Louis Malle .
Prehistory of the album
During a stay in Paris, Miles Davis played with René Urtreger's quartet , which included the French musicians Barney Wilen and Pierre Michelot and the US drummer Kenny Clarke , who was in Paris , in a three-week guest appearance at the St.Gemain club ( but also in the Paris “ Olympia ” and then in the Amsterdam “ Concertgebouw ”). The director Jean-Paul Rappeneau , a jazz fan and at the time Louis Male's assistant, suggested that Miles be asked if he could play the soundtrack to Male's first feature film; They thought of the music of the Modern Jazz Quartet , which was recorded for Roger Vadim's film Sait-on jamais (Does One Ever Know) a month earlier. Rappeneau introduces him to Malle, and Miles agreed.
The film music was "a bold novelty in the way it was created," said Peter Wießmüller in his Davis biography, because Miles and his musicians limited themselves to being free in the studio during the two sessions on December 4 and 5, 1957 to improvise while the film scenes were projected onto a screen in front of them. “Malle said in an interview that there had been no recordings, Miles only instructed his musicians on the tempo and chords shortly before recording. It is said that the recording should have been completed within four hours. "
The soundtrack "made it clear that Miles Davis' instrumental style has changed slightly". Now he used mutes and improvised free melody lines on harmonic bases consisting of a few chords. Many titles in the film music are based only on a D minor chord and a C major seventh chord . "The harmonic reduction to the essentials underlines the feelings and intentions of the protagonists." According to Polillo, Davis also knew "how to use the pauses with the greatest skill, and his instrumental tone had become even more ethereal and refined."
Edition history
Ten “motivic fragments” appeared on the Fontana record label (662 213-TR), coupled with music by Art Blakeys Jazz Messengers for the French film Les Femmes disparaissent . Columbia Records, with which Miles Davis was regularly under contract, released the same pieces from the soundtrack on the album Jazz Track .
The score for Ascenseur Pour L'echafaud was first released on compact disc in 1988 on Fontana Records, with an expanded track list and alternative takes . Well-known compositions such as Generique or Nuit Sur Les Champs-Élysées have also been re-released on some Miles Davis compilations.
Impact history
| source | rating |
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| Allmusic |
 
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| Rolling Stone |
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In the judgment of A. Pollilo, "the tense and disturbing music that emerged within a few hours ... forms a highly effective and extremely suitable background to the filmic events, which was characterized by an urgent rhythm and constant tension." Films conveys the melancholy and dreams of a young, existentialist and disaffected generation. "
The fact that such a deeply moving music was created in this way encouraged Miles Davis to pursue similar directions, which were first realized in albums such as Milestones (1958) and a year later in Kind of Blue .
Honors
Jazz Track , a Columbia album (CL 1268), which contained the initially released 10 pieces from the soundtrack and three songs by the Davis Sextet from May 1958, was nominated for the 1959 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Performance. Richard Cook and Brian Morton gave the album the highest rating of four stars in their Penguin Guide to Jazz .
Track list
All compositions are by Miles Davis .
- Original publication
- Générique - 2:45
- L'Assassinat De Carala - 2:10
- Sur L'Autoroute - 2:15
- Julien Dans L'Ascenseur - 2:07
- Florence Sur Les Champs-Élyseés - 2:50
- Dîner Au Motel - 3:58
- Evasion De Julien - 0:53
- Visit Du Vigile - 2:00
- Au Bar Du Petit Bac - 2:50
- Chez Le Photographe Du Motel - 3:50
- Bonus tracks of the new release
- Nuit Sur Les Champs-Élysées (Take 1) - 2:25
- Nuit Sur Les Champs-Élysées (Take 2) - 5:20
- Nuit Sur Les Champs-Élysées (Take 3) - 2:47
- Nuit Sur Les Champs-Élysées (Take 4) - 2:59
- Assassinate (Take 1) - 2:02
- Assassinat (Take 2) - 2:10
- Assassinat (Take 3) - 2:10
- Motel - 3:56
- Final (Take 1) - 3:05
- Final (Take 2) - 3:00
- Final (Take 3) - 4:04
- Ascenseur - 1:57
- Le Petit Bal (Take 1) - 2:40
- Le Petit Bal (Take 2) - 2:53
- Séquence Voiture (Take 1) - 2:56
- Séquence Voiture (Take 2) - 2:16
Literature / sources
- Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD . 6th edition. Penguin, London 2002, ISBN 0-14-051521-6 .
- Miles Davis: The Autobiography . Munich, Heyne, 2000
- Erik Nisenson Round About Midnight - A portrait of Miles Davis . Vienna, Hannibal, 1985
- Arrigo Pollilo: Jazz . Munich, Piper, 1981
- Peter Wießmüller: Miles Davis - his life, his music, his records . Gauting, Oreos (Collection Jazz) 1985
Web links
Remarks
- ↑ There are various anecdotes about how Davis and Malle met, which cannot be verified: “Once it is the French concert promoter Marcel Romano who is said to have arranged everything, then Juliette Gréco made contact between Malle and Davis and Another version tells that Malle intercepted Davis at the Paris airport and told him about his project. ”- Kai Teusner, Miles in Paris. Jazz Podium 12/1 2007/08.
- ↑ a b c Kai Teusner, Miles in Paris. Jazz podium
- ↑ Wießmüller, p. 27.
- ↑ so Wießmüller
- ↑ Review by Michael G. Nastos on allmusic.com (accessed April 12, 2018)
- ↑ Review by Maik Brüggemeyer on rollingstone.de (accessed on August 13, 2018)
- ↑ Pollilo, p. 589
- ^ Nisenson, p. 112