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Ascenseur pour l’échafaud is an album by jazz musician Miles Davis. It was recorded at Le Poste Parisien Studio in Paris on December 4 and 5, 1957. The album features the musical cues for the 1958 Louis Malle film Ascenseur pour l’échafaud.

“Performed by a Miles Davis-fronted European band for a movie by Louis Malle, this music helped define the sound of film noir. It made viewers think the genre’s films had always sounded just so, with slow-walking bass beats and muted, slithering horn lines miming the characters on the screen–and underlining their emotions. The melodies here are brief fragments, sometimes rising up only to disappear and then briefly return. This is Miles playing in the moment, improvising musical impressions as he watched the screen. And what he played managed to capture the era of postwar everywhere, while it offered Davis the freedom to test his on-the-spot compositional skills within a minimalist context. How many other beboppers who worked within the shadow of Charlie Parker could have ever recorded these little gems?” -John Szwed/Amazon.

Track listing:
00:00 – Générique
2:53 – L’assassinat de Carala
5:04 – Sur l’autoroute
7:24 – Julien dans l’ascenseur
9:37 – Florence sur les Champs-Élysées
12:29 – Dîner au motel
16:27 – Évasion de Julien
17:21 – Visite du vigile
19:26 – Au bar du Petit Bac
22:20 – Chez le photographe du motel

Personnel:
Miles Davis – trumpet
Barney Wilen – tenor saxophone
René Urtreger – piano
Pierre Michelot – bass
Kenny Clarke – drums

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Released: 1958
Recorded: December 4 and 5, 1957
Studio Le Poste Parisien, Paris
Length: 25:38 (original LP); 71:18 (CD)
Label: Fontana