"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".

The recording of this historic concert is presented in its entirety for the first time in this edition. The remastered original tapes have been used to produce this CD, ensuring excellent sound quality.

The only soundtrack recorded by Thelonious Monk in 1959 to be released for the first time! Contains performances of classic Monk tunes heard in Roger Vadim's 1960 French film "Les Liaisons Dangereuses". Features Monk's 1959 all-star band of Charlie Rouse, Sam Jones & Art Taylor, plus special guest saxophonist Barney Wilen. The package contains the digital booklet with texts, discography, never before seen photographs and memorabilia from the recording session.

This obscure album is a hidden gem. Dee Dee McNeil began her career singing jazz with such greats as Hampton Hawes and Frank Butler, and then veered towards R&B and soul, writing hit songs for Motown. The Afro-American singer/songwriter’s pieces have been recorded by the likes of Diana Ross & the Supremes, Gladys Knight & the Pips, and Nancy Wilson. Singer Barry Window’s father was South African, and those roots serve him well: he is the perfect counterweight to Dee Dee’s resonant voice. Saxophonist Barney Wilen is something of a jazz legend in France, having played with Miles Davis on the sound track for Louis Malle’s iconic "Ascenseur pour l’échafaud".

French tenorist and racing enthusiast Barney Wilen arrived at the 1967 Monaco Grand Prix with his Nagra sound recording system in hand, planning nothing more than to tape the race for private use. But when famed Italian Formula One racer Lorenzo Bandini lost control of his car and crashed, suffering horrific burns that claimed his life three days later, Wilen set to work on integrating the tape into a new composition celebrating the driver's life and career. The resulting Auto Jazz: Tragic Destiny of Lorenzo Bandini remains one of the most adventurous and potent recordings in Wilen's catalog, its careening, visceral music brilliantly paralleling the exhilaration of its subject matter. Bandini's Ferrari speeds in and out of the musical narrative, jockeying for position amid Wilen's soaring tenor and Eddy Gaumont's crashing drums while uniting driver and musicians in their reckless abandon and addiction to adrenaline.

Even from the globalized world's point of view in the year 2017: whenever you listen to recordings J.E.Berendt initiated in the '60s you are completely amazed about his visionary character. This is THE landmark album which showcases his explorations. Mani Neumeier, the incomparable drum wizard of Guru Guru fame, convinced Berendt to get the Jazz meets India idea into shape by engaging the Irène Schweizer Trio (which also featured bassist Uli Trepte) and calling in an Indian trio, with sitar player Dewan Motihar, responsible for arousing the Beatles' interest in India. In-between: German trumpet player Manfred Schoof and French saxophonist Barney Wilen. Jazz meets India is a stunning set in which it is a natural course of action that every musician respects and listens to each other - and we dare to say a more sincere approach to Indian music than many of the half-hearted world music blendings of nowadays.

The only soundtrack recorded by Thelonious Monk in 1959 to be released for the first time! Contains performances of classic Monk tunes heard in Roger Vadim's 1960 French film Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Features Monk's 1959 all-star band of Charlie Rouse, Sam Jones & Art Taylor, plus special guest saxophonist Barney Wilen. The package contains the digital booklet with texts, discography, never before seen photographs and memorabilia from the recording session.

Barney Wilen says he was convinced to become a musician by his mother's friend, the poet Blaise Cendrars. As a teenager he started a youth jazz club in Nice, where he played often. He moved to Paris in the mid-'50s and worked with such American musicians as Bud Powell, Benny Golson, Miles Davis, and J.J. Johnson at the Club St. Germain. His emerging reputation received a boost in 1957 when he played with Davis on the soundtrack to the Louis Malle film "Lift to the Scaffold." Two years later, he performed with Art Blakey and Thelonious Monk on the soundtrack to Roger Vadim's "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" (1960). Wilen began working in a rock-influenced style during the '60s, recording an album titled Dear Professor Leary in 1968. This release have been recorded in France for Japanese Venus Records.

French saxophonist Barney Wilen is one of the most renowned European jazz musicians. Wilen performed with Miles Davis in 1957 on the Ascenseur pour l'echafaud soundtrack. He has also worked with Kenny Clarke and Thelonious Monk on other film soundtracks. During the last ten or so years of his life, Wilen has a career resurgence thanks in part to his releases on Venus Records. Passione, recorded in June 1995, was Wilen's last recording as he passed away the following year at age 59. Not showing any indication of his illness, Passione displays Wilen in top form, sounding at ease, inspired, and powerful. One of Italy's most well-known jazz musicians, trumpeter Enrico Rava, joins Wilen to create a very appealing front line.

Barney Wilen had a style that wasn't like anyone else. On this album he exhibits a cool smokey tone and plays these tunes straight ahead. For example, on Mack the Knife, there is no attitude of fake hipness to get in the way of the melody. It doesn't sound like cliched versions of a 50's hipster or someone trying too hard to make something new out of it.