Ascensore per il patibolo

Shows

There is a scene in Ascensore per il patibolo by Louis Malle—the nighttime walk of Jeanne Moreau—that has become, in film history, the famous milestone we all know. Not because of the plot, and even less because of the dialogue, but because of its setting, its landscape. And within this urban and human landscape, as time slowly passes, Jeanne/Florence’s walk gains its meaning solely through the sound of Miles Davis’s trumpet, who, on the night between December 4 and 5, 1957 (what fascinating affinities: the very same night that many years earlier marked the death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart), improvised the film’s soundtrack with his group from 11 p.m. until five the following morning, in the presence of Jeanne Moreau and Louis Malle.

“Julien, je t'ai recherché partout,” Florence says, and nothing more. But where is Julien?

To find out, one simply must come to Vicenza Jazz where—this being a unique and special production of the festival—the original film by Louis Malle will be screened, but the soundtrack with those pieces improvised by Miles, later released on record and now part of the ideal museum of the twentieth century, will be performed live by Paolo Fresu and his quintet, in real time at the Teatro Comunale di Vicenza.

“When I first listened to the soundtrack of Ascensore per il patibolo, I was literally struck by lightning.” These are the very words of Paolo Fresu, long a profound and passionate devotee of Davis—at certain moments in his life, almost reverential. “I was already familiar with Miles’s work from those years, but that project, in its functional role, left me astonished for its new exploration of space and silence.”

At Vicenza Jazz, years ago, Fresu reinterpreted Birth of the Cool, then Porgy and Bess and Sketches of Spain. But from the very beginning, before giving his music its own distinctive imprint—deeply marked by Italian mélos—Fresu was born a Davisian. Over the past year, in anticipation of the centenary, he has created and toured a musical-theatrical production, Kind of Miles, in which, with his trumpet and his own narrating voice, he recounts his relationship with Miles’s music and figure, retracing a journey that goes beyond Bitches Brew and reaches his final works.

PAOLO FRESU's quintet was formed in 1984 by Paolo Fresu and Roberto Cipelli and is now an integral part of the history of modern Italian jazz, celebrating - with the same original line-up - forty years of existence, something very rare in the entire history of African-American music. After various incarnations, it became the group we know today between 1984 and 1985 with the recording of “Ostinato” for Splasc(h) Records, and established itself as one of the leading Italian jazz groups with the album “Inner Voices” together with American saxophonist Dave Liebman (1986). Since then, it has been intensely active in concerts and recordings, as well as in teaching. In fact, the group often acts as a “teaching group”, giving interactive seminars on jazz styles and structures from the perspective of the group's experience (Seminars in Nuoro, Victoria School of Arts in Melbourne, Matera). In this regard, the extraordinary experience of the “Cinque giornate del Jazz” (Five Days of Jazz), held during the 2005/2006 winter season at the Monteverdi Hall of the Bolzano Conservatory of Music in collaboration with the Culture Department of the local Autonomous Province, was particularly important and unique. A book with an accompanying DVD was published by Auditorium Edizioni in Milan based on this experience. All members of the group have specific and important teaching experience that is still ongoing: Roberto Cipelli holds the chair of jazz piano at the Conservatory of Trento, where he is also head of department and, since 2014, director of the Nuoro Jazz Seminars.
Attilio Zanchi and Tino Tracanna are professors of jazz music at the Milan Conservatory, while Ettore Fioravanti holds the same position at the Conservatory of Frosinone. Attilio Zanchi and Tino Tracanna hold the chair of Jazz Music at the Milan Conservatory, while Ettore Fioravanti holds the same chair at the Frosinone Conservatory.