Ascenseur Pour L'Echafaud

While Louis Malle’s "Ascenseur pour l’échafaud" wasn’t the first film to use a jazz soundtrack or to feature jazz musicians, it was the first to show an absolute integration of jazz music into a feature film whose story had nothing to do with jazz or even with music itself. It employed jazz to emphasize the dramatic action and to develop/support the film’s climax.

Miles Davis’ improvisations fit the dark atmosphere of the film perfectly and contributed greatly to underline the many subtleties of the story and the internal thoughts of its characters. The album received a five-star rating in Down Beat, with Ralph J. Gleason stating it was “an absolutely fascinating release”. According to him, “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. Some of the very best, if not best, Miles solos are contained on the first side of the LP.”