On the Corner

Artist: Miles Davis
Label: Sony
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 074645357928
EAN: 0074645357928
ASIN: B00000292K

Release Date: 1993-06-15

Related Categories:

General

| Jazz | Styles | Music

Jazz Fusion

| Jazz | Styles | Music

General

| Pop | Styles | Music

Jazz Funk

| Funk | R&B | Styles | Music

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Miles Davis Classics...
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Essential CDs for 1972

Tracks:

On The Corner
New York Girl
Thinkin' One Thing And Doin' Another
Vote For Miles
Black Satin
One And One
Helen Butte
Mr. Freedom X

Similar Items:

A Tribute to Jack Johnson
Miles in the Sky
In a Silent Way
Miles Smiles
Live-Evil

Customer Reviews:

not a jazz review.......2006-12-11

I don't typically like jazz. Don't know anything about it really. People who like jazz would probably not get much from my review.

Although I typically buy from lounge, one of my fav CD's is a Bill Lasswell's (Panthalassa) reworking of Miles Davis' "In a silent way" (which I just could not listen too until BL smoothed it out).

This CD is equally jarring (to my ears) and took a few listens before I could find the rythm. It starts out absolutely jamming "on the corner" and you are pulled into an image of a hip jazz band letting her rip, clappers and toe tappers all gathered around one of those street corner barrels putting out fire and warmth. There is a funky/jazz sound here but by the end of the second song I am worn out and ready to shut her down. That does give me 26 minutes of interesting music though and I am glad to have it.

I'm exploring jazz because it seems creative. Miles is surely that! If like me, you are mostly into the groove/funk/chill of lounge music but also interested in stretching your sound a bit, you might want to give this CD a try.

Miles was always ahead of his time.......2006-09-06

This 1972 release is intense. Period. And don't let the cover art fool you - the cartoon images on the front cover have nothing to do with the seething fury that lurks within the CD case. In fact, come to think of it, a Jackson Pollock would have been more far more appropriate as cover art and is certainly more in keeping with the music. Editorial comments aside, this is yet another remarkable Miles album and was his most controversial.

Alongside Miles (electronically altered trumpet) is a large ensemble including: John McLaughlin and David Creamer (electric guitar); Herbie Hancock and Harold Williams Jr. (electric organ, possibly moog synthesizer); Jack DeJohnette (drums); Don Alias and James Mtume (percussion); Michael Henderson (electric bass guitar); David Leibman and Carlos Garnett (tenor saxophone); Teo Macero (saxophone); William Hart (drums and percussion); Badal Roy (tabla); and Colin Walcott (sitar).

This particular iteration of the Miles Davis band had an unbelievably disciplined rhythm section. In fact, the machine-gun like and staccato bursts on the drums and the endless ostinato on the bass guitar seemed to draw the most fire from critics when the album was released. I happen to like the approach quite a bit because it reminds me somewhat of the meditative drones that minimalist composers like Terry Riley were writing at the time. The soloists are also excellent (of course) and weave their parts seamlessly into the hypnotic trance set up by the rhythm section. Unfortunately, you do not hear too much of Miles - this was another thing the critics harped on. The synthesizer textures are pretty interesting as are the tabla and percussion parts (the sleigh bells come to mind) - they add a very interesting dimension to the music.

Like a lot of Miles output during this period, the pieces are long: Tracks 1-4 comprise a 20 minute or so suite, while Helen Butte clocks in at 16'07". Musically, the pieces incorporate elements of German avant-garde composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, some free jazz, and American minimalism, although influences taken from James Brown and other soul/funk musicians can be heard as well. I have to admit though - this is unlike any funk I have ever heard before. In fact, it lurches along in fits and starts and quite frankly, is about as funky as a seizure. Or a sneezing fit.

Well I could easily go on and on raving about this album and the enormous contribution Miles made to music but I won't. This is supposed to be a review after all. If you enjoyed On the Corner, you might also like Live at the Fillmore East (March 1970); Bitches Brew (1970); Live Evil (1971); and A Tribute to Jack Johnson (1971). This is all simply amazing stuff.

The Groove Is Too Good.......2006-06-20

At the time of its release, On the Corner drew the ire of many reviewers because - it was written - it could not be considered a "jazz" album. The album is brilliant and the only problem I had with the original release on LP was the length; I wanted more music!

The dilemma by placing too much faith in the musings of music critics throughout the electric period of Miles was the seemigly placement of each album in a vaccum, as if the artist wasn't building on a concept. And Miles - as always was the case - was creating a sound for concerts and in the studio.

By bringing funk to the forefront of the sound, Miles was essentially placing the final paint strokes on a canvas - merging his studio and live ideas in a tight package - that is still misunderstood in 2006.

Miles bolstered the sound with a larger studio group, including such regulars like Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, John McLaughlin, Jack Dejohnette, Dave Liebman and Michael Henderson.

A great live companion piece to On the Corner is Dark Magus, which chronicles one of the last concerts before Miles went into a nearly seven year retirement.

One of the Best of '70s-Era Miles.......2006-06-16

_Bitches Brew_ gets the lion's share of notoriety and renown amongst Miles' more hard-hitting fusion albums, even to this day. Even though _Brew_ is an obvious classic, I've come to the conclusion that I like _On the Corner_ even more. I think _Brew_ is more renowned because it was the first fusion album. _On the Corner_ is better because of its wickedly lethal funk, especially the angular and unrelenting "Black Satin." I don't think electric Miles ever sounded better in the studio and this is his best cast of musicians (with John McLaughlin stealing the show with especially daring aplomb on several sections).

People say this isn't for everyone, but it could be. It's true, the first time that one hears this creates a funk experience of a kind never heard before or since; for that reason, it can be almost unnerving. But once you listen to it more, you increasingly appreciate how absolutely natural this is. Why not use a repetitive vamp on trumpet, a la a a more dissonant James Brown? Why not recycle the same bass riff three times (as Miles does on "Black Satin," "One and One," and "Helen Butte")? The repetition makes it funkier than anything you've ever heard. If you've got the riff why not see how far it takes you? Miles & Co. do exactly that as well as they ever did. Which is to say better than anyone else ever.

Michael Henderson's bass eats you alive (check out the way he processes his sound on "Helen Butte"--delicious). The tablas and electric sitar make everything more exotic (in a meaningful way, not just as dressing). The bells and whistles that get added augment the already alluring Other-ness of these sessions. In short, everything fires. I'd say the only studio album of the '70's that rivals this is _A Tribute to Jack Johnson_, which benefits from a template something along the lines of _On the Corner_ and a similarly stellar cast. If you listened to what the critics of the '70's said when they panned this, don't listen any more. Miles is so far ahead of the pack on this one, that I think the world is only truly ready for this kind of brilliance in 2006. If you're newer to Miles's electric stuff and like what you hear on more famous releases like _Brew_, I can only imagine that _On the Corner_ will blow you into the next dimension. Simply that powerful and that infectious.

Happy Listening!!!

The Nefertiti Concept Reborn.......2006-04-12

For those not familiar with Miles's Second Great Quintet of the mid to late 1960s, there is an undisputed masterpiece performance which redefined the development of a piece of jazz. This was the title track of "Nefertiti." Instead of playing the head, followed by solos and then the head out, Miles and Wayne Shorter play the melody with slight variations over and over again, while the rhythm section shifts the beat, the accents, the harmonic implications, and every other subtle element of "background." To the uneducated or unhip listener, the performance sounds like it goes nowhere. However, the dynamic changes and developments in the rhythm section constitute the subtle direction for the piece, while the melody is the thread that holds it together, as opposed to a walking bass line and constant chord changes that are generally the thread in jazz pieces. Another reviewer from this site described it aptly as being like "time lapse photography," where the subject is the same but the hues are slightly different.

"On the Corner," the most controversial album Miles ever made, revisits this concept of time lapse photography, albeit in a way that is most offensive to jazz purists but probably the best way to implement the concept. Instead of using the melody as the thread, he uses the basic rhythm of the drums and the bass line. This may seem unremarkable in how traditional it is on the surface. But the groove of bass and drums is SO consistent and unchanging that the thread or continuity has the maximum effect. From there, Miles adds layer by layer, including various percussion instruments, different chord colors from keyboards and guitar, and then the soloist, but he does it so slowly that each level gets insinuated into the listener's consciousness; we begin to vibrate with the insistence of the music, and just as we get used to it, another layer is subtly introduced, taking the stream of consciousness to a new level. In fact, the thread of bass and drums remains more or less the same, repeating the same figure, for the last three tunes, or the majority of the album. The mastery of this album is how everything else grows around it, from the slightest alterations of the drums or the wah of the bass to the sinister chords from Herbie Hancock's rhodes barely audible but profoundly felt as something different. Funk in and of itself may not be particularly subtle, but what Miles does with it and how this album moves from level to level is more subtle than even "Nefertiti." There isn't even much dynamic change in the traditional sense; it never really gets louder or softer, only thicker and more complex. Brilliant.

Not surprisingly, Miles alumni were profoundly affected by the concept of this album. Herbie Hancock's "Sextant" is quite similar in feel to "On the Corner" and one could argue that the entire improvisational concept of Weather Report was based on this concept of layering and repetition, with no one instrument more important than any other, though the best example is "Sweetnighter," Weather Report's third album. Neither subsequent album was as successful as "On the Corner" at this particular concept, though.

A warning (or maybe instructions) to listeners: this album only makes sense if you have the fifty minutes to listen and feel it the whole way through. I suppose in this way it's not particularly easy to listen to, and it's not a good place to start with Miles nor is it a good bridge from rock into jazz. If the sonic and psychological experiment of this album sounds interesting to you, a basic understanding of Miles's second great quintet on albums like "Nefertiti," "Miles Smiles," and "Miles in the Sky" is required to appreciate its depth, and be sure to check out "Bitches Brew" and "Live Evil" to get used to the sometimes abrasive sound of the music.

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