That Time Miles Davis IMPROVISED An Entire Film Score...In One Night
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- čas přidán 16. 12. 2021
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Would you make a video about the music in L.A. Noir?
You say "we've talked about James Bond music before"
Was that in a video? I can't find it!
Please do a breakdown of "KENDRICK LAMAR- TO PIMP A BUTTERFLY", amazing jazz/hip hop record!
Hi charles i highly reccomend you listen to steven universe music especially love like you. I also highly recommend platina jazz, they make jazz and big band covers of anime songs so you can either react to another version of something you already know or to new things :)
Contrafactum is fx. assuming history went other ways than it did, like Trump winning the 2020 election; THAT is contrafact(um) in my book. However, Wikipedia understands Charles Cornell's use of the word:
Not to be confused with Contrafactum.
"Borrowed chord progression" redirects here. Not to be confused with Borrowed chord.
A contrafact is a musical work based on a prior work. The term comes from classical music and has only since the 1940s been applied to jazz [...]
GENERIQUE WAS IMPROVISED IN ONE NIGHT?! I discovered the song a few weeks ago and i loved it. I had no idea it was improvised in such short notice. Miles was truly a genius.
Less than a night when you think about it lol
There are multiple takes of Générique (actually there are multiple takes of pretty much every track) in the expanded edition of the soundtrack, you may like to check it out
You should listen to miles Davis x New York I love you
He’s the king 👑
@@bigred5852 don’t share this treasure with everyone
Bro imagine being one of those studio musicians getting that call. "Yo.... we need you to come record a movie score.... with MILES DAVIS.... IN ONE NIGHT... TOMORROW" I would have shit my pants.
Honestly if you watch for example Rick beatos interview of Ron carter, who played many a time with Miles, you'll see back then it was routine. I am not in the slightest discrediting that, it just blew my mind it was the standard back then if you were a jazz musician at that level. They all were legendary.
Yo I would've LOVED it. The better the bandleader, the easier it is to play. When you have someone like Miles, you just know they gotta get the best of you and whoever is in the room, and if they call *you*, then they know better than you than you're the cat for the job...!!!
tbh i would just be excited i got the call for that gig
Oh yeah. Bringing an extra pair of pants for a change wasn't optional.
Reminds me of how George gershwin improvised most of the piano solos in Rhapsody in Blue while on stage at the premiere
That clip of Miles alone in a dark theater, intently playing to a huge film screen, and smoking between takes, is the sickest shit I've ever seen.
That shit is pretty fuckin haunting.
Everything Miles did oozed cool.
I guess he was…”The Birth of the Cool”
Whenever I listen to Générique on this soundtrack, I have an urge to do hard-boiled noir narration to all the mundane things I am doing: "The engine didn't so much turn over as fall over and began to purr like sickly cat. But there was no time to take it to the vet, I had a job to do: those Excel tables weren't going to pivot themselves."
I love this comment 😂
Hahaha! Oh yeah!
Thank you sir. Small bits of light are greatly appreciated.
lmao
you can tell this guy actually thought about this and made it make sense lol
I was in the room when Bobby McFerrin improvised the score to our short film, "Knickknack". It included 7 1/2 tracks, with only one short punch-in overdub. At 9:30 AM he sent me into a panic by saying, "I'm not sure what I'm going to do here". By 12:30 we went to lunch -- and it was a wrap.
Well come on man give us a link!
@@michaelantoun9353 yes
Omg Knicknack has been one of my favorite Pixar shorts for decades.
czcams.com/video/9uhM_SUhdaw/video.html
Where can I watch the film?
Are you talking about the Pixar movie
theres something magic on the passion charles haves to explain and play jazz or... music, in general
Totally agree! I just love the way he catches me and embraces my own passion, so thanks Charles!
@@joschka-bw2rc i mean, he could make a video talking about the sims soundtrack or harmonizing random stuff and i will still be really into it... oh wait...
@@arturomancera4765 Ahaha, yeah true, good one:D
The best teachers love their subject :)
I’ve heard this improv before!! There’s an old CZcams video where someone took his improv from this film and played it over LCD Soundsystem’s New York I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down. It’s absolutely gorgeous and I highly recommend checking it out
I love that version
I LITERALLY HAD THE SAME THOUGHT
Never heard of it before,
just checked it out,
~Wow~
link?
@@RoraighPrice czcams.com/video/huEtJw7pfLk/video.html
During the 50s and the 60s there was, expecially in Europe, a ton of film composers with a strong jazz influence. Check some famous italians or french films of that period. It isn't so weird, in fact, jazz was very popular at that time. Ennio Morricone, Nino Rota, Trovajoli, Umiliani, Piccioni... in their film compositions you can easily find jazz. This is one of the reasons for which I love that cinema era.
@Anne Day absolutely. I'd say that the gold jazz era begins to end during the late 60s. The gold era when -how you say- jazz was the pop music. Maybe rock replaced it (primarily).
If you haven't already, watch the film. It's a masterpiece even though it was Louis Malle's first feature length motion picture.
Imagine getting Miles Davis on your directorial debut lol
so what I hear you saying is that improvisational music is built on tropes and references, just like narrative writing. That's delightful, and it's helped me put my finger on why I'm scared of musical improvisation. I just never learned the tropes, or gained the experience to use them as subtly and effectively as I can in writing or knitting. Is this what your improv class teaches?
Yes, the backing players are all pros and yes, this is amazing improvisation all around! Notably, in The Birth of The Cool one of the players states that they knew who Miles was and they were super familiar with is music because... it's Miles!
miles literally told the piano and bass player exactly what to play because they were locals he didnt trust.
Générique has been my introduction song on my Miles playlist for many years.
The vibe he conjures shows he was a huge part of the art new wave that was being created in the 50's. Birth of the Cool.
Only Miles Davis could do it in one night. Kilometers Davis would need at least the following morning too.
LOL ... I'm a metric guy but that's a good one. Now I wish there were a tribute artist called "Kilometers Davis". :) Also, Miles Davis was okay with puns on his name, eg. two of his records are "Milestones" and "Miles Ahead".
@@bernhardkrickl3567 also "Miles in the Sky" :)
nautical miles davis took it even a bit further
boooooooo!
This is my favorite Miles album, and the way it came about makes it even cooler.
As far as the crime show/jazz soundtrack goes, the Peter Gunn tv show with Henry Mancini's soundtrack also came out in 1958.
The soundtrack for Peter Gunn is a masterpiece of music.
@@brianspenst1374 It really is. Also, if you haven’t already, check out Shelley Mane’s versions of the music from the show. Improvised brilliance on Mancini’s fantastic framework.
@@redbirdjazzz the show was briefly on Amazon Prime. I watched every episode just to hear the music.
10:16 let me 'introduce' you to the band '1st of october', where Rob Scallon and Andrew Huang write and record an entire album in a day, every 1st of October ^_^
Coincidently I am binging all of Miles albums chronologically. Every one is just so brilliant. His playing was just untouchable. He was truly a genius.
I'm so glad someone like you is finally talking about this album, i got into miles about a year ago. And this is in my opinion his most underrated album.
Everyone talks about kind of blue (which they should, they have reason)
But no-one talks about Ascenseur Pour L'échafaud
That's cause they can't pronounce it😔
@@emilandresen7577 just say elevator or lift to the gallows. But the actual album is called Acenseur pour L'echefaud
This is exactly what its like when I see Jacob Collier just basically write, compose and re-harm an entire song like in like 30 minutes.
Practice is IMPORTANT.
When you know how to play EVERYTHING, then you don't need time to compose things anymore, you just Frankenstein songs on the fly and leave people in Awe.
👍👍
9:25 it's a conversation. They have the initial topic and then they go. Everyone contributes something but Miles is guiding and moderating it. Music is a language and they are just fluent, eloquent "speakers" and attentive active listeners.
That's exactly how I think of it. All of us are improvising day-in-day-out just when we talk. Most of the things we say are improvised on the spot, we don't plan ahead our sentences. (At least, usually we don't.) To be able to improvise music you just need to build up enough musical vocabulary and grammar and then you can start. And just as a toddler can improvise speech at a simple level you can improvise music at a simple level. No need to become a genius first.
@@bernhardkrickl3567 thats what Chick Corea said
@@kuradipingviin that may well be. Probably others have said it, too :)
7:53 I used to run all over the house to that song when I was reeeaaally little.
"You can take the chord changes from some of your favourite songs, and you can just write new melodies to them"
Absolutely this - I am 100% guilty of this, because sometimes the chord sequence sounds so amazing and I just love hearing it
You can also have tons of fun taking the opposite approach: create a different chordal arrangement for the same melody. I so enjoy reharmonization
This is my absolute favorite Miles Davis album. The spontaneous, raw emotions Miles had to dig in to convey the mood of the movie speaks volumes on his talent. Still in awe by this accomplishment.
I'm fresh out a college jazz history class, and you're videos have been popping up ever since! Really digging your content, and glad I can keep up with some of the terms and jargon. Trying to keep myself immersed in jazz music as I dive back into learning the piano.
Improvisation is a language.
You learn it by practicing.. but you never know what exactly will be the next word or sentence.
And after some time.. you know how to communicate with others in that language .. fluently
@Anne Day But if you know your instrument well you know where to play in the space., or the arrangement, so they don't step on each other. But yes, improvisation is like learning to speak fluently and almost without thinking, or even similar to what I'm doing right now, creating a comment on the spot while touch typing. I don't have to think about where my fingers are going to hit the right letters, they just do it while I'm creating this sentence. Professional typists would make great jazz musicians.🤣
charles, if you've bever seen the first pilot of columbo, PLEASE listen to the score. i was really surprised by how jazzy it was.
Elevator to the Gallows is one of my favorite film noir. Miles Davis’s score is amazing - you get the energy of the film from the way he builds up the tension. If you only knew the film from the synopsis, you get that sense that they’re gonna get caught and it’s just a matter of time. The score draws you in to watch the film to see how it goes down. I consider Miles Davis to be the Prince of jazz - always creating, never doing the same thing twice. I said that offhand while watching the documentary - birth of the cool - and I found out that he actually did perform with Prince in the latter part of his career and they liked each other because they had a similar creative approach!
One of THE BEST jazz soundtracks! Also love “Smog” by Chet Baker and Piero Umiliani
Wow, Charles, these analysis videos are pretty fantastic! You speak in a very nice tone and speed, and overall the quality of all your videos is quite nice! Thank you
I just love the vibe of this album. The fact that it was recorded like this is amazing
love your videos sooooooo much, thank u for the awesome mindset and tips and tricks. Inspiring
I love this album. One of my favourite jazz albums. Didn't know it was improvised in a single night, that's awesome!
It would be super cool to have a video where how you talk about these improv principles like when you're playing with a group of people who has to just figure it out along the way with nothing but a simple chord progression to go off of, then be able to turn around to a real band during the video and actually demonstrate that on the fly without any practice or scripting.
I’ve been getting really into jazz lately. I play piano and it’s made me so freaking happy
Started this video, got hooked by the little pitch of the movie, went and watched it, and now I'm back. It was so awesome to watch it and then hear your break down of the music! Incredible to learn that the music (which fits the movie so well) was whipped up in a single night. The movie itself was great too!
It's a wonderful movie, very moody and with strong Hitchcock vibes. The scenes with the woman sadly walking through the streets with Miles' soundtrack are incredible! The music supports perfectly.
How is that even possible? Generique is such an incredible and emotionally resonant piece of music, even for Miles Davis, that the fact that it was improvised in a night just blows my mind on an infinite loop.
When you listen and play enough, this stuff starts being less surprising.
I want to play guitar like Miles plays trumpet. I once read where he described his compositional style as this: "I don't write songs - I write moods." That really describes his approach to this soundtrack. He really does just set up a mood, an atmosphere. He does play these very quick bursts of notes, but for the most part, his lines are minimal, simple notes in and around the scale.
2:00 this actually blew my mind… you’re the best 🥺💕
wow I like Miles Davis. Miles Davis is my favorite actor.
relevant: the UK jazz band Ill Considered
their first album was improvised, mixed, and mastered in 24 hrs and they've followed a similar process for ongoing 9+ albums, some studio and some live
One of my favourite films and one of my favourite jazz albums… that opening riff man…
The fact that Charles picked out Sweet Georgia Brown in that is absolutely incredible
Meeting up with friends and jamming (improvising) is literally one of the most fun thing to do
I love that you back down on how to pronounce Malle, as a French Canadian you avoided me the giggle :P but in all seriousness, I find it more humble than ruining it big time :) Props to you! Nevertheless, amazing video as always
So interesting. Thanks!
One of my all time fav Miles albums!
I found this film about 10 years ago. A great film. A fantastic piece of music as well.
I am old enough (b.1943), and remember seeing the film at the time......good for you for presenting it to a contemporary audience.....................
I remember finding this score on Spotify randomly lmao
Its rlly beautiful
Been waiting so long for a breakdown on this
I believe I saw the movie a few years ago on TCM while flipping through the channels. I was drawn in by the atmosphere (both the music and cinematography). I didn’t have a jazz background, but I was blown away. Afterwards, they had folks on talking about how Miles made the soundtrack and I was even more astonished. Seeing this video was great to revisit that memory and learn some things now that I’m getting better acquainted with jazz.
i love this content would love to see more stuff like this
Nice to see this album getting some air time. It's my go-to album in my collection by miles
Crime movies of this era and genre are known as "Film Noir". Mile's scoring of this film, is fairly well known among both Jazz and Noir fans. In Ken Burns' PBS documentary on Jazz, a segment is devoted to Mile's involvement in the music for the film.
The track was recently used again in a (/the) core scene in Lee Chang-dong’s fantastic “Burning”, the atmosphere Davis creates is just incredible
I came here for this. Fantastic scene, incredible movie, and a very effective soundtrack (aside from the Davis track, which is used diegetically in the film). People, go see it!
Just started cyberpunk 2077 and generique is one of my favorite tracks when it comes up on the jazz station. I feel like I'm in a noir film.
This is extremely inspiring.
Music is a hobby, jazz is a job. I feel like that makes a large part of the difference in production times.
What a coincidence, I was jamming Birth of Cool last night randomly. I swear, I've said this before, I think you're making content specifically for me! Thanks!
When I heard Generique, many years ago, it led to my lifelong love of jazz. Legendary.
Good choice. Keep up the good work. Music is a never ending circle.
I've known about Louis Malle for a while, but I never knew this! I've been meaning to check out his work so maybe I'll just start with this film, I already know the music is great!
Have that one on vinyl, great stuff, also On Green Dolphin Street on the B side is just yummmm
I knew that Miles Davis had done this film score but I never have watched the film or listened to the score before. Miles has done soooo much.
I knew about these recordings after watching the Miles Davis documentary on Netflix. I was amazed at the concept of him improvising an entire film score but what they failed to mention was that it was done in 7 hours. That just makes the feat that much more impressive. In the documentary, they said that Miles's ability and success in creating this film score, was an essential part to his conceptualisation to "Kind Of Blue".
This is one of my favorite Miles Davis record, and my go to during insomnia haha Incredible mood on this album. I have never watched the movie though
It's amazing, please do!
I bought this album after hearing one of the songs in one of those Matthew Mcconaughey Lincoln commercials. It's an amazing album and I listen to it all the time.
I love how he had the same energy a day apart
One of my favorite albums!
I loved this movie so much! I didn’t know that the score (which is one of my favourites) was improvised!
Loved that movie. Louis Malle is one of the greatest French movie maker. The music was very special.
DAMN, somehow never knew that and I actually really love it and have owned the soundtrack on vinyl for 5 or 6 years
Miles practiced so much and had such ability that it's almost not crazy to think he'd pull something like this off. Many people have done albums in one night but to have that music actually have staying power, is a true testament to his years of dedication to practice and the craft, aswell as his talent.
Also completely unrelated but you sound like Jake Baldino from Gameranx and I never noticed till today.
A great compilation you should check out is Crime and Dissonance. It's a selection of Ennio Morricone's Crime and psychedelic filmscores
I'm super familiar with Sweet Georgia Brown cuz I dance to it ALL the time, lindy hop (which I would love if you tried, nearly every major city has a "swing scene" just make sure it's lindyhop and not country) but I could not hear that at all even with you playing on top. Your ear is amazing is my point.
Jazz shows the potential of music to become a conversation. If you know the words and the principles of a conversation, you can create a conversation anytime, anywhere.
It is the same with sounds.
In "Burning" is a south-corean movie is a scene with Générique in it, which is one of the most beautiful scenes I have ever seen. Didn't knew, that it actually from another movie. I guess, that means something in "Burning", but I don't know what it is.
It's probably a callback to the Haruki Murakami short story, "Barn Burning" from which the film was partially adapted. In the story, the girl puts on a Miles Davis record (which is not named) at one point in what would be analogous to the portion of the story in the film where the Davis piece appears. It seems to serve as a (self-conscious) marker for cosmopolitan urbanity, but it seems open to interpretation. You can easily find the story if you google around.
this just reminded me that parts of who framed roger rabbit were also improvised too, especially the scenes with jessica rabbit.
I never knew about this movie at all. What's more impressive musically than improvising a film score in 7 hours?
The talk of improv always amuses me because I originally learned blues guitar from a blind man, no joke, so everything was always by ear and mostly a lot of jamming. He'd explain a concept, and then we'd just kind of improv jam it out. These days I mostly play bass for a church, but I basically have been jazz improvising the set live every week for 7+ years now. Often we show up day of and the music director has changed the setlist the morning of, or the singers didn't know what key we needed to be in and things get moved around a lot. No problem!
Improv has always kind of been the default for me. Later on I learned a lot more music theory, which is also useful of course.
Now I’m going to get this record and transcribe some of this
Exciting
I really want to write a whole film score in one night, that sounds like so much fun
now that seems awesome, I gotta watch that movie
What an exceptional person
Did not realize this movie existed before this video, but I see now that it is streaming on HBO Max, so I'm gonna give it a watch.
I heard Generique a few years ago and immediately went to check out the movie, it was cool!
In the vein of the hilarious roots of my jazz understanding-mr. roger’s neighborhood and the sims-when i hear that first miles Davis passage, I think of the LCD Soundsystem miles Davis mashup of CZcams fame. :’)
It's good jazz when you look concerned while listening to it
11:08 MONEY DON'T MATTER 2 NIGHT from Prince (different key though) verry nice progressions
Just signed up for your Intro to Piano course. Excited to get started on it. Just got into the discord as well, so I'll have plenty to check out later after work. I've been playing guitar and drums for years, and always wanted to get into piano, but never did much other than noodling around on the keys. More than anything, I'm excited to finally get a good grasp on music theory, because I've been playing by ear my whole life, never knowing if I am "technically" correct or not. I can "read" sheet music to an extent, but I'm really, REALLY slow at it. If I can get to a point of being able to sight read, I'll be pleased as punch! Thanks for all of your videos and knowledge that you share with us!
How did you learn to voice chords? And how do you practice it today?
11:29 That's amazing
'Everybody wanted to be like Miles Davis - no matter what instrument you played'
Hey bro! Do you have any recommendations for a MIDI- or otherwise digital keyboard? I'm an experienced guitarist looking to expand into piano, but I don't really know if any particular keyboard is better than the others. Thanks in advance!
Please do a video on Bo Burnhams Inisde, there’s a lot of really cool and analysis that can be done on some of his songs
There’s a picture of Jeanne Moreau on the CD cover of the soundtrack.
11:28 that's amazing
I want to come back to my trumpet and improvise
I miss a lot this kind of things
Im sure I've heard of this film within a documentary - Miles Davis: Birth of the cool