ASCENSEUR POUR L'ÉCHAFAUD (LIFT TO THE SCAFFOLD)

Film noir jazz at its best. This is much more stripped-down and sparse than you usually think of when it comes to Miles Davis' work, perhaps in part due to him working with a mostly French backing band instead of his usual suspects. Imagine Miles under a spotlight surrounded by pitch darkness playing mournful trumpet solos as something suitably noirish and/or Lynchian happens. Recent rereleases add a plethora of bonus tracks made up of unused and unreleased takes, which will be interesting to jazz historians but doesn't make for quite a good listening experience compared to the carefully chosen and nicely succinct original LP running order.