Ascenseur Pour L’échafaud (aka Lift To The Scaffold, or Elevator To The Gallows) is a French movie released in 1958 and directed by Louis Malle. It’s a fabulous piece of cinema and one’s that very typical of the period. Shot in black and white, it’s moody, dark, haunting, tense, full of suspense, intrigue and – oh boy, is it sexy, cool, chic and elegant! And the soundtrack is one of the all time greats, by the all time great that was Miles Davis.
Italian label Hemiolia recently released the soundtrack on master tape copy, specifically a 15ips 2-track ‘Pietro Benini 2023 master’ studio tape edition. Being a massive Miles Davis fan, my order went straight in the minute the release was announced.
A bit of backstory
There’s an interesting story about how the soundtrack and the album came about. Actually, when you starting digging, there’s a plethora of stories surrounding this album and soundtrack. Suffice to say I’m always on the lookout for more information and I’ve just ordered the Criterion Edition Blu-Ray release of the movie, which has been remastered with a higher resolution than the DVD issue I already have. But my main reason for ordering it is because it looks to have more extensive extras, including footage of Miles recording the soundtrack. If I discover anything juicy I’ll add a postscript to this blog.
Anyway, the story goes that Miles had been on tour in Europe without his usual US-based band, and so he’d developed a good working relationship with the musicians who would appear on the soundtrack. They are (in addition to Miles on trumpet obviously):
- Barney Wilen – tenor saxophone
- René Urtreger – piano
- Pierre Michelot – double bass
- Kenny Clarke – drums
One way or another, Miles was approached by director Louis Malle to compose the soundtrack for the film. Over the next few days Miles was shown the film and the sections that required musical accompaniment, and he worked out a few basic ideas and themes.
Then, on the night of 4th/5th December 1957, Miles and the band went into Poste Parisien in Paris to record the soundtrack. It went like this: the film was projected onto the wall and Miles and the band literally improvised the whole performance! Something to note here is that Miles is 90% of the sound, and also he did give the band some fairly clear pointers beforehand so they weren’t entirely in the dark. For example, pointers such as “this track here we’ll have a bass solo, or this track here I want no piano and no sax…”.
But that’s essentially it: a film soundtrack, and a very sultry, sexy moody, dark and thrilling one at that, improvised and recorded ‘live’ in just one overnight session at the very end of 1957. Irresistible!
Some vinyl versions
First of all I wanted to set the scene and establish a reference point. So I pulled out my original 1958 10” Fontana LP (cat. No. 660.213 MR). I say ‘original’ because it is. I’ve had other 1958 French Fontana versions of this album, whereas this one has a number of features that identify it as the original… first off, there’s the red ‘33 1/3’ badge on the mint green label (subsequent 1958 Fontana issues had a darker green label with the 33 1/3 badge being grey and white); then there’s the fact that the original has no awards listed on the cover, whereas the first reissue has written at the top left in red text ‘Prix Louis Delluc 1957’, and the second reissue (still 1958) adds to this a second award, ‘Grand Prix Du Disques 1958 Académie Ch. Gros’.
Carrying on with the run-down of my vinyl references, next up is the US first issue. This was release on Miles’ American Columbia label in 1959, where it made up the first side of a 12” LP along with three other tracks from Miles’ more usual American sextet of Adderley, Chambers, Cobb, Coltrane and Evans.
I kicked off by playing my 1958 Fontana original, initially on my usual reference set-up using my stereo cartridge / tonearm combo of Miyajima Kansui cartridge in an Ortofon LH-8000 Urushi-lacquered Japanese oak headshell, in a Glanz MH-124S tonearm feeding my Aesthetix Io Eclipse phonostage. This is the sound I’ve known for many years (and I’ve converted more than a few jazz haters into jazz fans with this supremely wonderful album played on this system!). The sound has such swing, a slow bluesy groove that incredibly sensuous and subtle, and a searingly soaring and spectacular trumpet that’s just dripping with ambiance, soul and sensitivity.
Next, I switched to my mono cartridge, a Miyajima Zero mounted in a Shun Mook Mpingo ebony headshell in a Thomas Schick 12” tonearm, again feeding the Io Eclipse but this time into a second input, factory-modified for pure mono use. The sound took on a significant gain in dynamics, detail, bandwidth and stability. The cymbals shimmered more, the bass was more rooted, Miles’ trumpet soared higher, the piano had more colour and the sax more timbral ‘saxiness’. I wanted to point this out as, for several years now, I’ve been of the opinion that the closest thing to master tape is mono LP. Or more specifically, mono LP played with a dedicated mono cartridge. The Miyajima Zero (in common with all Miyajima monos) has no vertical movement whatsoever, it simply does not move in the vertical plane and thus does not even read vertical information (which on a properly cut mono LP would only be noise or distortion). True mono only wiggles from side to side, it’s so simple in comparison with stereo which works at 45 degrees from vertical in each direction, i.e. 90 degrees from each other, so a stereo stylus moves up, down, left and right (or, to be more specific, the two stereo channels are cut in the SW-NE and NW-SE directions). Since mono simply wobbles from side to side, the resultant information sounds and feels like it’s set in stone. That’s how master tape (and all good master-copies) sound: set in stone and utterly true to the source.
Anyway, the mono album sounds far superior. For the record, I also have various CD versions of this album but I’d choose the original mono LP over these, every time.
And so to the tape
Are you sitting comfortably? You might like to pour yourself a drink. It’s that kind of listening session…
The first track: ‘Générique’ opens with a slow-paced bass line, augmented so subtly with piano and drums. It’s sultry, achingly beautiful and over the top of it, the trumpet simply soars, dripping in ambiance. It sets the scene of the movie: dark, a tense thriller but fuelled by achingly beautiful romance. It’s both cool and yet red-hot passionate. The tape version of this simply wipes the vinyl and CD editions off the map. The bass is taut and tuneful, the piano has a wonderful tonal colour and the cymbals shimmer. Miles’ trumpet, needless to say, ascends in a staggering way. I already love this album more than ever, it’s utterly delicious!
Track 2: ‘L’ Assassinat de Carala’, well that gives the game away if you haven’t seen the movie! Shortly into the film there’s an assassination. I won’t go into detail and spoil the movie for you. (Seriously, I’d urge you to watch it if you haven’t already, it’s an absolute classic). For this assassination scene the music is menacing, with piano and bass delivering a sparse feeling and Miles’ haunting trumpet leaping out against the background shimmer of cymbals.
Track 3: ‘Sur L’Autoroute’ heralds a complete change of pace (and scene). Our ‘hero’ Julien has had his car stolen by a young buck and his girlfriend who go joy-riding which explains why this track shifts the pace up a gear or two. Fast and frenetic, ‘Sur l’Autoroute’ (On the Motorway) sees Wilen’s sax enter the fray, in a wonderfully duelling act with Davis’ trumpet against the fast and frenzied playing of Michelot, Urtreger and Clarke. The sound is fabulously groovy, I’d say almost genre-defining.
Track 4: ‘Julien dans L’Ascenseur’ brings another change of scene. Well, this is a movie soundtrack after all! In fact, a key part of the charm and irresistible attraction of this album is the way it comes at you like a movie: ten short scenes, each around 2 minutes or so. The longest track is under 4 minutes, the shortest just 53 seconds. There’s no time to get distracted, from the moment the music starts to when it ends you’re completely hooked. It’s nothing short of mesmerising. Anyway, back Julien in the lift… again, trying not to give the plot away, our hero is returning to the scene of the assassination to cover his tracks, but just as he’s ascending in the elevator, the power cuts off and he’s left stuck in the lift! So, the music is slow, menacing, dark. The bass is supremely well defined and coloured in by the most subtle use of piano. Then a haunting trumpet cuts in, spiralling out of the soundstage, heavy with ambiance. Tension builds with the subtlest of cymbals: whisper-quiet, sweet, yet crystal clear.
Track 5: ‘Florence sur les Champs Élysées’ is another favourite track of mine for sure. Here we’re treated to Miles’ ‘Florence’ theme: elegant, swinging, chic and sexy. The movie’s heroine, Florence has failed to rendezvous with Julien (the guy trapped in the lift) and she wanders Paris late at night, full of despair and anxiety. This is one of the most well-known tunes on the album, and for me it really does illustrate what the album is about. It has a slinky ‘Pink Panther’ level of groovyness, coupled with a totally Parisian chic, elegant, sexiness and a captivatingly haunting tension. The whole band is in swing for this number – the bass, drums and piano lay down the grooviest of backgrounds upon which the trumpet and sax dance their dance.
Track 6 (side 2 of the original LP): ‘Dîner au Motel’. Now we’re back to the car-chase frenzy. Our joy-riding anti-heroes (Louis and Veronique) are racing a German couple in a Mercedes Benz 300SL (the gullwing classic), before arriving at a motel and partying. The music kicks off with that same frenetic style of ‘Sur L’Autoroute’ with bass and drum backing behind the soaring trumpet lead. Again, the tape is totally stunning and beats all other formats and versions hands down – not just here and there, or time and again, but consistently, from start to finish it’s in an altogether different league to any previous release. It’s like sugar-coated dynamite!
Track 7: ‘Évasion de Julien’. Spoiler alert: okay, so it’s pretty obvious from the title of this track that our hero Julien escapes from the lift! I won’t go into too much detail, but he has to sneak out secretly and so this tune is a double bass solo that’s slow and oh-so-carefully paced, the music wonderfully setting the scene of the movie…
Track 8: ‘Visite du Vigile’, opens with solo double bass again, continuing on from the previous track. The pace creates a palpable tension and then as the song progresses the subtlest of shimmering cymbals grows to a crashing of drums growing louder and louder as we head into…
Track 9: ‘Au Bar du Petit Bac’ in which our heroine Florence, having been up all night, finds herself in the Petit Bac late-night bar. With Florence back in scene (wonderfully played by Jean Moreau in the movie) we revisit ‘Florence’s theme’. Sultry and smoking, the trumpet and saxophone duet above the whole band playing together to set another achingly cool and beautiful ambience.
Track 10: ‘Chez le Photographe du Motel’. In the final scene of the movie, we find ourselves in the motel’s photographic laboratory, and as a reel of film develops, the plot unravels. Double bass, piano and drums set the background, over which Miles lays down his trumpet, cutting through searingly, initially with tension, unfurling into the conclusion and the close of the movie…
At only 25 minutes long, this is perhaps one of the shortest albums recorded, but it contains a cinematographic amount of action, passion, tension, frenzy, cool and sheer utter chic elegance!
For me, this wonderful soundtrack encapsulates everything I love about Miles Davis, about jazz, and about music as a whole. It paints pictures, it carries the emotions from highs to lows, from nail-biting suspense to utter elation. Think of one of the best classic Hitchcock thrillers, delivered in the form of music – this is ‘Ascenceur Pour L’échafaud’. It’s incredible, unmissable and this new Hemiolia tape release is probably, right now, the most precious album in any format in my collection. Yep, it’s that good. For me it scores 10/10 in every respect.
If you’re in the market, here’s where to order: https://www.hemioliarecords.com/en/master-tapes/49-82-ascenseur-pour-l-echafaud-miles-davis-8050616581280.html#/1-equalizzazione-ccir
Note: If you’re in the USA you’ll spot a note on the web page saying “This item is not available for sale in the USA. ”Unfortunately due to licencing agreement restrictions, Hemiolia aren’t allowed to sell certain tapes direct to the US. So US-based customers will need to be a little creative in finding a workaround!
For a bit more rambling, here’s a video in which I chat about this release.
Dave Denyer: The Reel-to-Reel Rambler 