Ascenseur Pour L'echafaud

Description

"A kind of mythology sprang up around the performances, which involved Miles Davis working without his regular group, and with just the exiled Kenny Clarke from home. Fans have pored over the recordings with more detailed attention than most soundtrack albums ever receive, treasuring such details as the little fleck of skin from the trumpeter's lip that changes the timbre of his instrument on one cue. The recording and the circumstances of its making fitted the idea of the jazz improviser as an existential loner, always on the outside of society, making beautiful or heroic gestures out of nothing." - Penguin Guide To Jazz

"Beyond the music's fascinating minimalism is Miles' unique sound, which is both distant and close, and absolutely bewitching even 60 years later. "Miles' sound", with or without the mute, would become instantly recognizable. The dark and luminous notes of the celebrated, fabulous "Générique" are today inseparable from Jeanne Moreau's face, and from her nocturnal wandering through the streets of the French capital. This is cinematic jazz." - Jazz Magazine

Description

The album "Ascenseur pour l'echafaud" it's the original soundtrack, produced in 1957 by Miles Davis, from the film by Louis Malle with Barney Wilen on tenor saxophone, Rene Urtreger on piano, Pierre Michelot on double bass, Kenny Clarke on drums and Miles Davis on trumpet. The recording session, organized by Marcel Romano, took place the night of December 4 to 5, at the Poste Parisien studio. "Ascenseur pour l'echafaud" won the Louis-Delluc Prize in 1957; in Europe the name of Miles Davis was included on the film's poster, and the quality of his contribution was widely recognized and praised in the press, which further increased his fame.

This release is part of the New Ermitage collection available from January 2024: 18 jazz and soul titles reissued on yellow vinyl with new codes and renewed graphics.

Description

THE COMPLETE ALBUM + 5 BONUS TRACKS - CD EDITION - 18 TRACKS - INCLUDES 16-PAGE BOOKLET with UPDATED LINER NOTES.

Presented here is the complete original 10-inch LP Ascenseur pour l'echafaud, consisting of a suite of Miles Davis' music for Louis Malle's film of the same title (it was premiered in the United States as Frantic).

This music was later released in the United States on the 12" LP Jazz Track, adding to the suite an outstanding session by Miles's sextet featuring John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley and Bill Evans. This edition also includes five bonus tracks.

"An absolutely fascinating release. The French group is absolutely fascinated by Miles, though Wilen manages to play very well in his brief solos and Klook's brushes are delightful. But it is Miles one remembers from these tracks; he conveys the concentrated beauty and stark drama of, say, Billie Holiday. His sadness is devastating here, just as his lyricism is exquisite and the pain of his beauty almost insupportable." - ***** Down Beat

Description

The complete contents of the original 10" album - reissued as a special limited edition 10", pressed on heavyweight red coloured vinyl.

Miles Davis' complete original soundtrack music to the 1958 film Ascenseur pour l'echafaud (Elevator To The Gallows) directed by Louis Malle. Recorded in Paris, the music perfectly captures the film's noir tension and remains one of the most iconic jazz soundtracks ever created. Reissued as a replica of the original 10" LP, this limited edition is for both fans and collectors of Miles Davis and movie soundtracks.

"An absolutely fascinating release." - ***** Ralph J. Gleason, DownBeat (1958)