Miles Davis' Soundtrack to Louis Malle's Ascenseur Pour L'echafaud on 180g LP: Features Boris Vian's Original Liner Notes and Jean-Pierre Leloir's Iconic Studio Photo of Davis and Jeanne Moreau

Contradictory accounts of Miles Davis' creation of the soundtrack to Louis Malle's film noir Ascenseur pour l'Échafaud are part of its legend. Nearly 70 years on, beyond any myth, this taut recording, imbued with extreme dramatic tension, remains one of the Davis' finest records.

The basic outline remains: Jean-Paul Rappeneau suggested that Malle ask Davis to create the film's soundtrack. When he agreed in the fall of November 1957, Davis was performing at the Club Saint-Germain in Paris. On December 4, brought his four sidemen to the recording studio without having prepared anything. He gave the musicians a few rudimentary harmonic sequences he had assembled in his hotel room. Once the plot was explained, the band improvised as edited loops of musically relevant film sequences were shown n the background.

In 1988, bassist Pierre Michelot recalled: "Miles just asked us to play two chords, D minor and C7, four bars of each, ad lib." 

This beautiful reissue of the original recording is pressed on 180g vinyl at GZ. It comes packaged in a deluxe gatefold tip-on jacket with Boris Vian's original liner notes and Jean-Pierre Leloir's iconic studio photo of Davis and Jeanne Moreau. In addition, it includes Franck Bergerot's essay on the circumstances that led to Davis' memorable music.