Miles Davis

A vinyl edition of Miles Davis' soundtrack to the 1958 film noir by Louis Malle, Ascenseur Pour L'Echafaud (Lift To The Scaffold), starring Jeanne Moreau and Maurice Ronet. This was Malle's first film, and aged just twenty-four the director approached Davis in order to persuade him to record the music. With support from drummer Kenny Clarke, bassist Pierre Michelot, pianist Rene Urtreger and Barney Wilen on tenor sax, Davis set about improvising the soundtrack in a single night. Predominantly, the outcome is a spine-tinglingly melancholy, deep-blue affair, with Davis putting in an incredible hangdog performance on the likes of 'Generique', 'L'Assassinat De Carala' and 'Florence Sur Ses Champs-Elysees', only occasionally lifting the tempo for fluid modal runs across 'Diner Au Motel' and 'Sur L'Autoroute'. Classic stuff.

• 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 On Green Dolphin Street (bonus track)
• 12 Fran-Dance (bonus track)
• 13 Stella By Starlight (bonus track)