Ascenseur Pour L'echafaud (Lift To The Scaffold/Original 1957 Soundtrack) - Miles Davis

Advantages: Virtuoso trumpet at its best
Disadvantages: Only the re-released version has the sound quality it deserves

...The first time I heard this CD was with my Grandparents as a young child, I didn't understand and didn't appreciate the beauty of the music, I remember my granddad tapping his toes and sipping his whiskey, humming gently along with the trumpet solos, this fond memory was abruptly brought forward whilst browsing in a local alternative record shop. I spotted "A Kind Blue" and instantly withdrew my wallet and the CD was mine. As readers you will probably like to know about the music is like! Well simply it is divine, some find Miles Davis's music too intense and muddled, but it takes either an uninterested listener to ignore this or a fascinated listener to understand and appreciate it, I hope that the buyer will lean towards the latter of these two opposites.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Ideal example of Miles' style at the time - funky and fun.
Disadvantages: Not for everyone (but definitely worth a shot)

...Miles Davis was one of the most influencial musicians of the last century, constantly innovating as a jazz sideman, soloist and bandleader. The trumpeter was at the forefront of bebop, 'cool' jazz, rock fusion, and funk. "Jack Johnson" falls in the middle of Miles' fusion period, with such albums as the famous "Bitches Brew" and "In a Silent Way". Track Listing 1. Right Off (26:52), 2. Yesternow (25:34) History This music was written by Miles as a soundtrack to the documentary "A Tribute to Jack Johnson". Johnson was a black boxer, heavyweight champion in 1908. He was a black symbol - Miles, always acutely aware of racial prejudices, felt a connection with Johnson. Unusually, Miles wrote liner notes himself for the album, showing his strength of feeling - he says how Johnson was sophisticated, into wine, cigars... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Reinvigorated Davis, awesomely funky, with a superb band.
Disadvantages: You're kidding right?

...Post 'Bitches Brew', amid the slow disintegration of the second great quintet, at a time when Columbia didn't know or even care how they marketed Miles, Davis produced this pearler. 'On the Corner' would follow, a series of mishandled live albums, and then ill health combined with his ongoing cocaine addiction would see Davis disappear for the greater part of the seventies. 'A Tribute to Jack Johnson' however is Davis at one with his material, interviews reveal this to be a project Davis dug, really dug. A longtime fan of boxing, and constant visitor to the ring to keep fit (relatively speaking for a cocaine addict with shot hips), in Jack Johnson Davis spotted a kindred spirit. The album was the soundtrack to a documentary about the legendary heavyweight. Johnson was THE great black hope in the early 20th century, an African American... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful