Siesta
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
The film Siesta has become lost in the mists of times, but the music hasn’t and has just been reissued. Although often thought of as a Miles Davis score the music was mostly written by Marcus Miller based on Sketches of Spain. But what’s the film actually about? Selwyn Harris tracks it down
George Cole’s reappraisal of Miles Davis’ 1980s fusion recordings in his book The Last Miles gives equal weight to that other much maligned of jazz subgenres: the film score. In its limpid album-by-album commentary, Cole’s book shows as much respect to Miles’ ventures into film music as he does to his other recordings during this era. Not the kind of attitude you usually get regarding jazz film music in general. By and large, jazz scores tend to go missing from album discographies, and when they do get a mention, are casually dismissed as if unworthy of bearing the title "jazz."
Yet writing for film can and does provide jazz musicians with a canvas upon which to develop something with a deeper thematic focus or explore new ground. The latter has especially proved significant in the case of Miles. Of course, we can talk about most of Miles’ career as a musical revolution of some kind or other, but the point is that, on the whole, his film music is up there with his most celebrated recordings. His first score for the French feature Louis Malle’s L’Ascenseur Pour l’échafaud (The Lift to the Scaffold) (1957) lent itself to an open structured basis for improvisation that gave a tantalising glimpse into the future, as did the electrifying jazz-rock manifesto for the documentary Jack Johnson (1970).
Not until the mid-1980s did Miles begin an involvement with feature films again, playing on a session for a lesser-known film Street Smart (1986), composed by Miles’ synth player and musical director at the time, Robert Irving III. It was later that year that he received a call from the producers of a film to be shot mainly in Madrid, and Barcelona titled Siesta (1987). It was with this location in mind that the film makers had chosen the Miles/Gil Evans collaboration Sketches of Spain as a temporary soundtrack. Unable to obtain the rights for its use in the final release however, it was perhaps the most logical step to ask Miles to write a contemporary version based on the original. Miles was to turn to his trusted collaborator Marcus Miller with whom he had just recorded Tutu, his debut album for Warners. According to Miller, Miles had originally asked him if he could write just two tracks. Eventually though, the whole score was entrusted to Miller to complete in just two weeks: not an unusual scenario in the film industry. Commenting on his remit from the film makers, Miller told Jazzwise in 2001: "My task was to come up with a contemporary version [of Sketches]. The only thing I did was try to change the palette."
Yet writing for film can and does provide jazz musicians with a canvas upon which to develop something with a deeper thematic focus or explore new ground. The latter has especially proved significant in the case of Miles. Of course, we can talk about most of Miles’ career as a musical revolution of some kind or other, but the point is that, on the whole, his film music is up there with his most celebrated recordings. His first score for the French feature Louis Malle’s L’Ascenseur Pour l’échafaud (The Lift to the Scaffold) (1957) lent itself to an open structured basis for improvisation that gave a tantalising glimpse into the future, as did the electrifying jazz-rock manifesto for the documentary Jack Johnson (1970).
Not until the mid-1980s did Miles begin an involvement with feature films again, playing on a session for a lesser-known film Street Smart (1986), composed by Miles’ synth player and musical director at the time, Robert Irving III. It was later that year that he received a call from the producers of a film to be shot mainly in Madrid, and Barcelona titled Siesta (1987). It was with this location in mind that the film makers had chosen the Miles/Gil Evans collaboration Sketches of Spain as a temporary soundtrack. Unable to obtain the rights for its use in the final release however, it was perhaps the most logical step to ask Miles to write a contemporary version based on the original. Miles was to turn to his trusted collaborator Marcus Miller with whom he had just recorded Tutu, his debut album for Warners. According to Miller, Miles had originally asked him if he could write just two tracks. Eventually though, the whole score was entrusted to Miller to complete in just two weeks: not an unusual scenario in the film industry. Commenting on his remit from the film makers, Miller told Jazzwise in 2001: "My task was to come up with a contemporary version [of Sketches]. The only thing I did was try to change the palette."