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.  

Miles Davis - "Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants" CD, Album, 1989/1959 (Prestige)

One of my favorite all-time recordings is "The Man I Love," the Gershwin song here performed by Miles Davis, Kenny Clarke, Percy Heath, Milt Jackson, and the incredible Thelonious Monk.  There are two versions of it on the CD release from 1989.  Both are sonic perfection.  The solos are fascinating.  Miles' solo is slow and soulful, and Jackson's vibes bring it up to a faster pace, but Monk's solo is abstract painting as music.  His piano sketches the beautiful melody like he's tracing something on paper on the sand on a windy day.  I believe its take two where Monk even goes slower and plays with the melody as if having liquid slowly disappear between the fingers.   I get the impression that Miles probably wanted to throw his trumpet at Monk for going so slow, and playing with the melody as if a cat is is batting a toy mouse.   The whole album is terrific, but to have the two versions of "The Man I Love" opening and closing this album is just perfection being practiced by these giants of music (jazz). 

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. 

BARNEY WILEN: Un témoin dens la ville & Jazz sur seine (Doxy) 45 rpm, 12" Vinyl Record

Another in the great series for the label Doxy, of Jazz music, composed for French films.  Here we have a very young French sax player Barney Wilen, who became known internationally after working with Miles Davis, on his score for Ascenseur pour l'échafaud.  Un témoin dens la ville is a classic noir-like score to its film, which one can smell the alcohol from the streets of the right bank.   Well, it does have one of the great French stars, Lino Ventura (born in Italy I think, but still...) in a film I have never seen.  I must make note... but if it's anything like its soundtrack, it's a must.  Sadly, I don't know the other musicians on this recording, but this 1958 piece of wonder really reflects on what is on the above album cover.  The mood is tense, with moments of intense beauty.

Side two is Jazz sure seine, which is Wilen playing with various members of the Modern Jazz Quartet, such as vibe player Milt Jackson on piano and the great Kenny Clarke on drums. I'm not sure if this was originally made for a film track, but it clearly brings pictures in one's head.  The music is touched with a lightness that's superb.   This is a fantastic album that will melt your brain, and bring warmth to your soul.

Bobby Jaspar - "Jeux De Quartes" CD Album

Bobby Jaspar – Jeux De Quartes

CD, Album, France, 2002

Jazz In Paris No. 85

I am so location and time orientated, I often buy albums for that sole purpose. For instance here's a record recorded in 1958 and in Paris. That alone gives the album three stars, if I believed in that horrible system of talking about art. Also the fact that Kenny Clarke's name came up on the back of this CD, made this recording a must for me.

Bobby Jaspar, born in Belguim, played Sax and flute. He also composed compositions as well as being married to the great Blossom Dearie. A pal of Boris Vian, which makes this album part of the “Friends Of Boris Vian” collection I have on going. But getting to the music, what we have here is very much 'cool' jazz that's very European sounding. His take on the masterful “Misterioso” a composition by Monk has an original arrangement by Jaspar that shows off the master's great sense of loopy melody, but Jaspar makes it is own, with great drumming from Clarke. It borders on bad taste oriental-ism, but that is part of the fun of this arrangement.

Perhaps it is the nature of the flute, but the music is very soft for the ears, but the interplaying between Jaspar and the rest of the musicians (besides Clarke - Paul Rovére, Jymie Meritt, Humberto Canto, Sadi Lallemand, among others) is effortlessly steamed into a beautiful sound. Actually a nice album to get drunk to. 

Barney Wilen - Jazz sur Seine (Paris Sessions) CD Album

Jazz In Paris Series

Barney Wilen – Jazz sur Seine (Paris Sessions)

CD Album, France, 1958

Jazz in Paris, Universal Music (France)

The great French Tenor Sax player Barney Wilen backed by ¾ of The Modern Jazz Quartet. Instead of John Lewis, we have the great vibe player Milt Jackson on piano, which I think is unusual. Nevertheless a great band with a fantastic rhythm section of Kenny Clarke and Percy Heath. These recordings always bring out the romantic in me, because I imagine these guys playing in a Parisian nightclub with numerous beautiful woman dressed in black with their gangster boyfriends. Drinking whiskey and water, and very little dialogue. Well, I think the Universal Music label 'Jazz in Paris' feeds that image for us foreigners, who spend a great deal of time in front of the TV/Computer to watch French gangster films of the 1950's.

So Jazz sur Seine (original title is Jazz Sessions) is a beautiful snapshot of what I imagine was a perfect time when French Jazz musicians played with American greats. It's the meeting of these two cultures that somehow becomes one-of-a-kind expression of a love shared by the few. This particular album has songs by Wilen as well as by Django Reinhardt, Charles Trenet and Thelonious Monk.

The original Vinyl album (1958)