This is four minutes of pure joy that should delight music lovers and movie buffs the most advanced. The national audiovisual institute (INA) has just found a beautiful treasure, a short sequence of the show in The moonlight of Jean-Christophe Averty in which we see the legendary Miles Davis with his French orchestra, composed of the great names of jazz: Barney Wilen, René Urtreger, Pierre Michelot and Kenny Clarke.
This little gem, which was found by miracle during an inventory of the conservation center of the INA – the cave of Ali Baba of the Institute – had been recorded a few hours before, on the night of 4 to 5 December 1957, the recording of the famous theme music for the masterpiece of Louis Malle, Lift to the scaffold).
» READ ALSO – Miles Head, the life of jazzman Miles Davis adapted for the cinema
Filmed on December 7, 1957 by Jean-Christophe Averty for the Radiodiffusion-télévision française (RTF), this variety show filmed at the studio des Buttes Chaumont brought together in a very stylized lunar landscape a group of artists as talented as Miles Davis, Juliette Greco, Paul Braffort, Giani Esposito, Keita Fodeba and his troupe of dancers in guinea.
Released on December 25, 1957 in the context of a Christmas program, this program seemed to be irretrievably lost. Only a photo reportage done on the set of filming remained. A research work carried out at the conservation Center of the INA in Saint-Rémy-l’honoré in Paris, helped to rediscover the 16 mm film original which was immediately digitized to be put online on the site Ina.fr. The general public will thus be able to rediscover these images for the first time since their release, there are about sixty-two years.
The only images of the quintet of Lift to the scaffold
While touring in France and Europe, Miles Davis had gathered around him a training in French top flight consisting of Barney Wilen on tenor saxophone, René Urtreger on piano, Pierre Michelot on bass and Kenny Clarke on drums.
«READ ALSO – Jeanne Moreau and Maurice Ronet, the mythical couple of Lift to the scaffold
On the night of 4 to 5 December 1957, the quintet entered the legend of the seventh art in recording the soundtrack for revolutionary d’ Lift to the scaffold by Louis Malle.
Filmed two days later only, these images are the only known showing of the quintet at work, and are among the most ancient of Miles Davis in the world. Scattered around the two craters of the moon, the musicians interpret a variation on the theme Dig , composed by the saxophonist Jackie McLean. The magic of the music, once again, in black and white. An absolute must see.
● Lift to the scaffold by Louis Malle in 1958, with Jeanne Moreau, Maurice Ronet, Lino Ventura…
● Louis Malle cabin of post-synchronization to Lift to the scaffold
