Monthly Archives: May 2023

Music

Miles Davis’s Soundtrack to Elevator To The Gallows (1958)

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Rolling Stone described him as “the most revered jazz trumpeter of all time, not to mention one of the most important musicians of the 20th century” and it’s hard to argue with that appraisal of Miles Davis (1926–1991) the American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Not to everyone’s taste for sure (and certainly not to the other adult sharer of my household, who pretty much loathes the entire genre of jazz) and challenging at times to even the most willing of new listeners, but he is one of the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz.

Born in Alton, Illinois to a well-to-do family (he was born Miles Dewey Davis III), Miles went to study at the celebrated Juilliard School in New York, but dropped out and sought out, befriended and soon joined saxophonist Charlie “Bird” Parker’s bebop quintet, collaborating with him from 1944 to 1948. Shortly after, he recorded the ground-breaking Birth of the Cool sessions which would become the defining recording of the “cool jazz” genre, and in the early 1950s he recorded some of the earliest “hard bop”, the funky offshoot of bebop music. Ever innovative, he was always pushing the envelope and inventing genres along the way.

Davis signed a long-term contract with Columbia Records, and recorded the album ‘Round About Midnight in 1955. It was his first work with saxophonist John Coltrane and bassist Paul Chambers, key members of the sextet he would lead into the early 1960s and with whom he would rule the jazz world. During this period, he alternated between orchestral jazz collaborations with arranger Gil Evans, and band recordings, such as Milestones (1958) and Kind of Blue (1959), the latter recording selling over five million copies in the US.

The piece I have singled out for our delectation today is a piece of cinematic cool, combining Miles Davis’s musical soundscape with some typically moody French art-house aesthetic provided by legendary screen goddess Jeanne Moreau. This scene is from the 1958 crime thriller movie Ascenseur Pour L’échafaud (Elevator To The Gallows), directed by Louis Malle. The soundtrack was recorded in one night, and improvised by Davis and four other musicians while they watched the relevant scenes from the film. Jazz critic Phil Johnson described it as “the loneliest trumpet sound you will ever hear, and the model for sad-core music ever since”.

Miles Davis
Music

Sir Edward Elgar’s Nimrod Variation (1899)

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Both patriotic and moving in equal measure, Sir Edward Elgar’s Nimrod variation is a staple of British patriotic events such as the Last Night of the Proms, the opening of the 2012 Olympic Games in London, and the coronations of Elizabeth II and Charles III, whilst its sombre nature lends itself equally well to the Remembrance Day service at the Cenotaph, and funerals such as those of Princess Diana and Prince Philip. It is the ninth and best-known variation in Elgar’s Enigma Variations, an orchestral work of fourteen variations on an original theme composed between 1898 and 1899.

Each variation is also a musical sketch of members of Elgar’s family and close circle of friends and contains, in Elgar’s words, “a distinct idea founded on some particular personality or perhaps on some incident known only to two people”. Thus, each variation contains a personal expression from Elgar of an aspect of each subject’s personality, or an event they shared, and the subjects are identified by either initials or a nickname: for example, the first variation is “CAE” (Elgar’s wife, Caroline Alice); others include “RBT” (Oxford classicist Richard Baxter-Townshend), “Troyte” (architect Arthur Troyte Griffith) and so on.

Variation IX (Adagio) “Nimrod” is a portrait of Augustus J. Jaeger, Elgar’s editor and publisher, and close friend. Nimrod is the great hunter of the Old Testament, and the piece is so named through a play on words: Jäger in German means ‘hunter’. This serene variation represents the years of advice and encouragement given to Elgar by Jaeger, when Elgar was suffering depressive episodes and lack of confidence in his work. Jaeger had reminded him that Beethoven had had similar anxieties and yet his music had only increased in beauty; in tribute to this moment, Nimrod’s opening moments evoke subtle hints of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 8.

The piece builds through long phrases of swelling dynamics and rippling melody, and the emotional climax comes slowly but surely. Solemn and evocative, Nimrod has everyone reaching for their hankies. Enjoy this version featuring Gustavo Dudamel conducting the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra.

Sir Edward Elgar