The soundtrack to this 1958 movie by Louis Malle is one of early Miles' most famous pieces of music and yet I'd never heard it (and neither have I seen the movie, but that's something I intend to remedy). I found the CD on the cheap in a flea market and gave it a few listens. It's a great atmospheric album, but it is a soundtrack and therefore lacks a certain sense of purpose (or rather, the purpose is to support visuals which are not there). That said, it's amazing the extent at which just hearing that muted trumpet and the sparse accompaniment of the young French jazz lions accompanying Miles on this one puts you in a noir, wet, 50s atmosphere, as if the world was in black and white. And maybe that's the most endearing about Ascenseur pour l'Echafaud, that it seems to be the sonic expression of a very specific yet bygone era.
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