Creative Travels by Hunter Boyle

[Music] Miles Davis meets the French New Wave in 'Elevator to the Gallows'

In 1957, Miles Davis walked into a screening room. He was there to watch Louis Malle's debut film, "Ascenseur pour L'échafaud" (Elevator to the Gallows), and after a few screenings, he went on to create the score.

The movie has oddly been disassociated from the French New Wave in cinema. That's a whole other post though. One of the most attractive elements of this film is the score by Davis. The music is flat-out gorgeous. Melancholy, chilling, sad and desperate, the notes crawl under your skin and literally make the hair on your neck tingle at some scenes, like the opening and closing moments, and when Jeanne Moreau wanders aimlessly through the Paris night searching for her missing lover/co-conspirator.

Yet it's not just the music itself. How it was produced is every bit as intriguing. According to the featurette on the DVD, the improvisational approach Miles took to scoring this film was similar to his landmark jazz album,  Kind of Blue. This film project also paved the way for his explorations in modal music on albums like Milestones. The score is an often overlooked bridge from one genre of jazz to the other -- the latter being one he pioneered as much, if not more, than other jazz musicians of his day.

Jazz has fascinated me for several years. I don't claim to understand the structures or know all the styles. But after listening to Kind of Blue  for the first time in 1994, the idea that a group of musicians walked into a studio and essentially created that flawless collection of music on the spot, vibing off one another and freestyling within a minimalist structure ... I was, and still am, floored by the level of talent and creativity displayed by that album.

The scoring sessions for Gallows were conducted in a similar vein. Miles Davis hadn't even met a few of the musicians he collaborated with on this elegant music. He didn't need to. He led. They followed. In all, there is about 20 minutes or so of music used in the film. Although it's used sparsely, it punctuates the most dramatic scenes and doesn't overpower the film -- even though now, with hindsight and the stature of Miles Davis, Louis Malle and French cinema of that era, it's become a more prominent feature.

For me, the music practically saved the movie from being an almost laughable melodrama. Between the main characters' overwrought, breathy pleas of love and the cartoonish rebellion in the form of the young dimwits who stumble into the whole mess, I often had a hard time suspending my disbelief. But the Davis score? Ah, now that goes down nice and smooth.

[Music] Electronic music + Philly + church = The Gatherings Concert Series

I don't go see live music all that often. But I've gotten hooked on The Gatherings Concert Series here in Philly over the past year. Since fall of 2005, I've seen shows by Jeff Pearce, Saul Stokes and Michael Bentley, The Ministry of Inside Things and Orbital Decay.

What makes the Gatherings so appealing? Part of it is the location: Concerts take place in St. Mary's Hamilton Village, a church on the University of Penn campus. True, pews aren't the most comfortable seating option for a concert. But concert-goers are welcome to lay out sleeping bags or camping chairs in front of the stage. And if you bring a blanket, the pews aren't too bad. The ambiance is a perfect fit for this contemplative style of music. The stained-glass windows, vaulted ceilings and altar ornaments take on a new life when paired with the trippy visuals and light shows. You never know what you'll get from one show to the next: I've seen everything from a lo-fi fractal screensaver, to a photography and CGI slideshow perfectly timed to the musical composition, to a laser and fog-machine fantasia.

But the music is the real draw, of course. In fact, I tend to close my eyes for almost half of the show to try and absorb more of the swirling sounds. I've never been great at describing music in conventional terms. I don't read music and haven't played it since my third-grade viola lessons with Mr. Bulcavage. But I know how it makes me feel when I hear something special. And I'm fascinated by those who have the talent and ability to stoke those feelings with music.

At the concerts mentioned above, my mind has wandered to places it simply never goes during the usual day-to-day, much less the workweek. Maybe I'm odd that way. How often do you find yourself imagining what it would be like to exist in another galaxy centuries from now? Or even in another part of the world, like a rain forest, volcano crater or in the desert under a full moon? I've done the last three but they're often tucked back in the corners of my memory, eclipsed by more practical matters like paying the rent. The electronic, ambient, so-called space music at the Gatherings is an escape hatch from all of that. While we obviously can't live in the worlds of Blade Runner or Serenity, an imaginary visit ain't bad. (And considering how crappy most sci-fi movies are, it's now a must if you like that genre.)

Perhaps best of all, the artists are accessible. Often they're selling their own CDs on the table at the entryway. After the show, most are glad to discuss their music, their skills, their backgrounds, etc., in an informal way that never happens at typical concert venues. It's a small community. Many of the same faces pop up at show after show. That's how it started for me only three shows ago. I'm still a bona fide newbie. But hey, the fall season is right around the corner now -- and I'm already dusting off my sleeping bag. 

[Music] The 3 music Websites I'd want most on a deserted island

It was around 1999-2000 when I stopped buying new music regularly. I still got a few CDs here and there but I got very selective since they were well over $15 new by that point. And, as just about anyone can attest to, most of them weren't worth it (and still aren't). Classic albums aside, you got two or three killer tracks and about 10 filler tracks. So, not long after college I started falling behind on new music.

Thank God for a handful of sites that have revived my love of new music. I never got too far with the P2P sites like Napster or Kazaa, but now I don't need to risk viruses and junk uploads to hear new stuff. The three music sites that I live by now:

1. LaLa.com -- The concept is so simple yet elegant: List CDs you have. List CDs you want. Trade them. Pay nothing to give away. Pay $1.75 to get new ones (not burned discs) from others on the site. Balance is maintained with karma points. Nirvana is achieved by not paying for filler and being free to explore new music with almost no financial risk. Plus, 20% of money from the site goes back to a foundation for musicians. It also works great in tandem with ...
2. Pandora.com -- This site is like having a personal DJ. Part of a massive project to analyze and categorize music (the Music Genome Project), it's a dream come true considering the pathetic state of most corporate/terrestrial radio. Here's how it works: Plug in a song, album or artist. The site streams similar tracks based on the "musical DNA" of your selection -- and it does a damn fine job most of the time. You can rate the tracks, save them to a favorites list, buy them from iTunes, spin them off to create other stations and share your playlists with friends. And for heaven's sake, the whole thing is free.
3. XponentialMusic.org -- This site just launched not long ago, but what an excellent (overdue) idea, at least around here. There's nothing too revolutionary about college radio stations that stream music, but the shows on Universiy of Penn's WXPN are pretty good. My favorites are Stars' End and Echoes. However, the station just absorbed the popular upstart Y100 Webcast, too. Y100 had been a real radio station before its corporate parent decided Philly didn't  need an alternative rock station. Honestly, I never listened to it much on the radio or online, but I can hear its influence on XPN now and the extra dose of attitude is a welcome addition.

If, like me, you thought that musically your best days were behind you, think again. There are loads of other similar sites, maybe even some that are better. Last.fm is pretty popular, but I haven't tried it out yet since I found Pandora first. And that's the cool part. Instead of feeling like I'm out of the loop with new music, or even old music that I hadn't discovered or gotten around to buying, now it's like a whole new menu of options is available from streaming to MP3s to CDs that bypasses all the gouging of record companies and garbage pumped out by corporate radio. All that's been replaced by a seemingly endless variety of sweet (legal) sounds.