Ascenseur pour l'Échafaud

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 is the soundtrack to 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 for creating the film's soundtrack - possibly inspired by the Modern Jazz Quartet's recording for Roger Vadim's Sait-on jamais (Does One Ever Know), released a few months earlier in 1957.

Miles was booked to perform at the Club St-Germain in Paris for November 1957. Rappeneau introduced him to Malle, and Miles 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. Miles 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 that contains ten songs from this soundtrack, received a 1960 Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Performance, Solo or Small Group.

Track listing

1. Nuit Sur Les Champs-Élysées (take 1) – 2:25
2. Nuit Sur Les Champs-Élysées (take 2) – 5:20
3. Nuit Sur Les Champs-Élysées (take 3) – 2:47
4. Nuit Sur Les Champs-Élysées (take 4) – 2:59
5. Assassinat (take 1) – 2:02
6. Assassinat (take 2) – 2:10
7. Assassinat (take 3) – 2:10
8. Motel – 3:56
9. Final (take 1) – 3:05
10. Final (take 2) – 3:00
11. Final (take 3) – 4:04
12. Ascenseur – 1:57
13. Le Petit Bal (take 1) – 2:40
14. Le Petit Bal (take 2) – 2:53
15. Séquence Voiture (take 1) – 2:56
16. Séquence Voiture (take 2) – 2:16
17. Générique – 2:45
18. L' Assassinat de Carala – 2:10
19. Sur L'Autoroute – 2:15
20. Julien Dans L'Ascenseur – 2:07
21. Florence Sur Les Champs-Élysées – 2:50
22. Diner au Motel – 2:58
23. Évasion De Julien – 0:53
24. Visite Du Vigile – 2:00
25. Au Bar du Petit Bac – 2:50
26. Chez Le Photographe Du Motel – 3:50

The original soundtrack to the film, as mixed and edited in 1958, and used for the screen, can be heard in tracks 17 to 26.

Personnel

• Miles Davis - Primary Artist, Trumpet
• Barney Wilen - Tenor Saxophone
• René Urtreger - Piano
• Pierre Michelot - Bass
• Kenny Clarke - Drums

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