Miles Davis - "Ascender pour l'Échafaud" 3 × Vinyl, LP, 10", Album, Deluxe Edition, Limited Edition, Reissue, Remastered (2018/1958 (Fontana)

According to my current bank statement, I'm broke, yet, I couldn't help myself purchasing this three-10" disk set of the Miles Davis' definition of perfection "Ascenseur pour l'échafaud."  The Louis Malle film is fantastic of course, but the soundtrack music is one of those series of perfect aural moments.  With incredible backing from French Jazz musicians Pierre Michelot, René Urtreger, Barney Wilen, and the great American drummer Kenny Clarke.   The mood is consistent, which has traces of sadness and reflection.  The ultimate 'Modal' sounding album, it reflects the sound of a moody sea or a sense of moisture on a Parisian pavement.  

I have at least four versions of this soundtrack album.  It is consistently reissued in various formats, but my favorite is the 10" record.   Last year, they released a 10" original version, but this package includes all the outtakes throughout three discs.  For the new listener, I would suggest this above package because it sounds phenomenal, and there is not a bad or wasted cut on this album, including the extra bonus cuts.   Economically you can find a more inexpensive version, but then again, why do you want a discount of vinyl greatness?  

The album works in the early morning as well as late in the evening.  It has a purity or a sense of place that is meditative, but not background music.  Choosing a favorite Miles album is almost pointless, due to his vast recorded history.  Although, on a very subjective level, this is my favorite Miles album.  It never fails in supplying me the food I need to move on, and although I don't feel it's a spiritual work, but perhaps more of a sexual experience.   Sensuality that is the forefront, and therefore the ultimate sound of lovemaking that enters the brain.  

Lionel Bart - "Bart For Bart's Sake" Vinyl 10" Album, 1959 (Decca)

My obsession with London pop culture before The Beatles hit the scene goes overdrive in certain periods in my life.  Reading Andrew Loog Oldham's memoirs as well as others, one name comes up again and again, and that's Lionel Bart (1930-1999).   Bart was the ultimate insider of the British music and theater world.  He also was a painter, so he had a foot in the visual art world as well as in the theater in West End of London and beyond.  And of course, he's famous for his musical "Oliver."

Bart, who never learned to read or write music, wrote "Living Doll" for Cliff Richard, as well as writing "From Russia With Love," the central theme of the Bond film.  One of the interesting aspects of Bart's work is the use of the Cockney language or accent in his lyrics.  Apparently used in his first  'solo' album "Bart For Bart's Sake."  Released in 1959, this is Bart right in the middle of the Rock n' Roll presence in the U.K.  Artists like Tommy Steele and Cliff Richard becoming the British wave, due to Elvis not touring the U.K.  This is not a rock n' roll album, but a set of songs from the Theater, but all from the source that's Lionel Bart. 

"Bart For Bart's Sake" is a superb snapshot of London showbiz, but with the presence of satire, and again, the use of Cockney rhymes and accent. Also noted, is his awareness of the album format, which he gives every song here an introduction of sorts, even commenting to the listener you're on side two of the record.  Most of the songs on this 10" album come from an obscure Bart musical - but clearly, makes commentary on the sexual landscape of that culture.  It borders on the "Carry On..." films of the late 50s and 60s.  It's a total performance piece, with a strong presence of Laurie Johnson's arrangement, who is famous for the (British) Avengers TV series soundtrack.   This is very much the root of the swinging 60s, which Bart fully participated in with great force, but with some destructive side-effects on his mental and physical health.  

Bart knew everyone from Larry Parnes (the ultimate music manager of his time) to David Bowie.  He had his finger on the pulse of London music culture, and now, sort of a cloudy individual of that world - especially in the United States.   I suspect that if someone wrote a full biography on Bart, it would be one of the great showbiz biographies of them all. 

Chet Baker - "It Could Happen To You" LP, Album, Reissue, Vinyl, 1958/1987 (Riverside)

I studied this album cover as if it's a coded message from another world.  For some reason, and you can't see it here due to the sticker, but Baker is wearing light boat tennis shoes, with the heaviest sweater possible.   Which brings to mind it is probably not winter, but spring or summer time when this photograph was taken for "It Could Happen To You."  An album, if you listen to it carefully enough, it will cause the sound of zippers opening and slips/underwear dropping to the floor.  

Chet Baker is the Johnny Thunders of Jazz.  A hopeless drug addict with the looks of a more dangerous James Dean.  His young beauty matching his soft whispering vocals must have been a hard combination to avoid with respect to a sexual adventure of some sort.  The other amazing thing is his music sounds exactly the way he looks.  His lyrical trumpet playing is soulful, and when he opens his voice, it is like the sound of a thousand pillows being puffed up. 

This is the only album I have of Chet's singing.  There are others, but I can't make a comparison, but the focus on this album is, of course, songs from the great American songbook.   Rodgers and Hart, the Gershwin brothers, and Kern/Mercer all have a presence on this album.  It's Baker's voice that conveys the desires and the angst of being in love, or in the pursuit of earthly romance. 

Backed by an excellent band with Kenny Drew on piano throughout the album, and also the magnificent drummer Philly Joe Jones and others make the musical landscape the perfect vehicle for Chet's seductive stance within the vinyl grooves.  It is also interesting to hear or compare the trumpet playing by Baker, and then how he uses his voice.  He based his vocals on the trumpet, perhaps in the same manner as Frank Sinatra being influenced by Tommy Dorsey's horn playing.  So in a sense, Chet's vocals is an instrument as well, in this exquisite landscape of romance, music, and god knows what else. 

John Cage - "The 25-Year Retrospective Concert of the Music of John Cage" 2 x Vinyl, Booklet, Limited Edition, 1959 (Modern Silence)

Ground zero for John Cage recording.  This phenomenal album is the essential document of a great concert that took place at Town Hall New York City in 1958.    Produced by Cage's good friends Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and filmmaker Emile de Antonio.   This is, at the time, was Cage's celebration of 25 years of composing and making music.   With the help of the art community, a concert was placed, and at this event, Cage and others performed his "greatest hits."  This is not only a document of a concert but also an important cultural moment that took place in Manhattan. 

David Tudor, Merce Cunningham, and Cage's wife, Xenia, as well as the composer, performed pieces in front of a hostile audience.  At least their catcalls mixed in with the bravos are clearly in the mix.  This is a real live recording!   Listening to the album, I really feel its presence in front of me.  There are not that many live albums that have that affect for me.   The works here are legendary, and Cage at the height of his creativity.   Beautiful packaging; this album is priceless to me. 

Henk Badings - "Evolutions" Vinyl 10" album (Cacophonic) 1958

Dutch composer Henk Badings score to the ballet "Evolutions" by Yvonne Georgi.  The sound reminds in parts of Portishead and early Kraftwerk.  Th music is moody in a cinematic nature.  A combination of tape and electroacoustic music.   There are traces of musique concrete but also melodies being played as well.   Before buying this recording, I never heard of Badings' music nor his name.    It's great to be turned on to a new composer and finding it by chance  - mostly due to the record cover design.  It's good.

One hears real instruments throughout the six pieces that make "Evolutions."  I can hear accordion, piano, but manipulated by tape editing.  Recorded in 1958, Badings used electronic music not as an experimental practice, but as new ballet music of its time.  As mentioned some melodies play hide and seek with the electronic effects.  A great short ep length album. 

Miles Davis - "Asceseur Pour L'Échafaud" Vinyl 10" album, Limited Edition, Mono (Sam Records)

My favorite Miles Davis music.  Recorded in 1958, in Paris, with the great French musicians Pierre Michelot, René Urtreger, Barney Wilen, and the legendary American drummer Kenny Clarke.  This album has been re-released numerous times.  But I think Sam Records version is the best.  For one, they went back to the original analog tape to make this disc as well as the original negatives of the front and back cover.   Sam Records is a one-man operation, and he focuses on jazz that was recorded in France, mostly from the 1950s.  

Limited edition of 1,000 copies, is not the easiest find, but once you do, you'll love it.  For one, the sound is incredible.  The music for me is like if someone turned the lights off by a switch.  A mood changer that works like no other music.   A beautiful smokey aural experience. 

The other item of interest for me is that they have the original liner notes including the one by Boris Vian.   Long-time readers of my blog and my work know that I have an intense passion for Vian's writing and his social world.    It's a great reminder of his presence and importance in the French and American Jazz world. 

JACK SCOTT "The Legendary Jack Scott (Big Beat Records) 1958

Jack Scott, an artist who worked and recorded in Detroit Michigan, is a superb talent. There is something very working class about him.  Not eccentric like Elvis, or insane like Vince Taylor.  A regular "Jack," who sounds decent as the sun arriving every morning.  Yet, there is menace in his music.  It's very sexy.  The great do-wop backup vocals on almost all the songs, are like angels looking over Jack Scott's shoulder.  If he makes the wrong move, they are there to protect him.  And on top of that, you get Stan Getz on sax.  The two classic cuts on this album are "The Way I Walk," and "Goodbye Baby."  The Mono edition of this album is sonically superb.