On the Corner
AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Albums:
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On the Corner
- Artist: Miles Davis
- Rating:
- Release Date: 1972
- Total Time: 54:39
- Type: Instrumental
- Genre: Jazz
Review
Could there be any more confrontational sound in Miles Davis' vast catalog than the distorted guitars and tinny double-timing drums reacting to a two-note bass riff funking it up on the first track from On the Corner? Before the trumpet even enters the picture, the story has been broken off somewhere in the middle, with deep street music melding with a secret language held within the band and those who can actually hear this music -- certainly not the majority of Miles' fan base built up over the past 25 years. They heard this as a huge "f*ck you." Miles just shrugged and told them it wasn't personal, but they could take it that way if they wanted to, and he blew on his trumpet. Here are killer groove riffs that barely hold on as bleating trumpet and soprano sax lines (courtesy of Dave Liebman on track one) interact with John McLaughlin's distortion-box frenzy. Michael Henderson's bass keeps the basic so basic it hypnotizes; keyboards slowly enter the picture, a pair of them handled by Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea, as well as Ivory Williams' synthesizer. Finally, Colin Walcott jumps in with an electric sitar and there are no less than five drummers -- three kits (Al Foster, Billy Hart, and Jack DeJohnette), a tabla player, and Mtume. It's a four-tune suite, "On the Corner" is, but the separations hardly matter, just the shifts in groove that alter the time/space continuum. After 20 minutes, the set feels over and a form of Miles' strange lyricism returns in "Black Satin." Though a tabla kicks the tune off, there's a recognizable eight-note melody that runs throughout. Carlos Garnett and Bennie Maupin replace Liebman, Dave Creamer replaces McLaughlin, and the groove rides a bit easier -- except for those hand bells shimmering in the background off the beat just enough to make the squares crazy. The respite is short-lived, however. Davis and band move the music way over to the funk side of the street -- though the street funkers thought these cats were too weird with their stranded time signatures and modal fugues that begin and end nowhere and live for the way the riff breaks down into emptiness. "One and One" begins the new tale, so jazz breaks down and gets polished off and resurrected as a far blacker, deeper-than-blue character in the form of "Helen Butte/Mr. Freedom X," where guitars and horns careen off Henderson's cracking bass and Foster's skittering hi-hats. It may sound weird even today, but On the Corner is the most street record ever recorded by a jazz musician. And it still kicks. ~ Thom Jurek, Rovi| On the Cool Side (1985 Album by Ben Sidran) | |
| On the Corner (1989 Album by John Patitucci) |
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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On the Corner
| On the Corner | ||||
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| Studio album by Miles Davis | ||||
| Released | October 11, 1972 | |||
| Recorded | June 1, 6 and July 7, 1972 Columbia Studio E, New York City |
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| Genre | Jazz-funk, jazz fusion | |||
| Length | 54:49 | |||
| Label | Columbia KC 31906 |
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| Producer | Teo Macero | |||
| Miles Davis chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |  [1] |
| JazzTimes | (favorable)[2] |
| Robert Christgau | B+[3] |
| Rolling Stone | (favorable)[4] |
| Spin | [5] |
| Stylus Magazine | (favorable)[6] |
| Penguin Guide to Jazz |   [7] |
On the Corner is a studio album by jazz musician Miles Davis, recorded in June and July 1972 and released later that year on Columbia Records. It was scorned by critics at the time of its release and was one of Davis's worst-selling recordings. Its critical standing has improved dramatically with the passage of time, as it is now seen as a strong forerunner of the musical techniques of post punk, hip hop, drum and bass, and electronic music.[2][8]
Joining previous multi-disc Davis reissues of In a Silent Way, A Tribute to Jack Johnson, and Bitches Brew, On the Corner was reissued on the 6-disc boxed set The Complete On the Corner Sessions, released in September 2007.
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Contents
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Music
Davis claimed that On the Corner was an attempt at reconnecting with the young black audience which had largely forsaken jazz for rock and funk. While there is a discernible rock and funk influence in the timbres of the instruments employed, from a musical standpoint the album was a culmination of sorts of the musique concrète approach that Davis and producer Teo Macero (who had studied with Otto Luening at Columbia University's Computer Music Center) had begun to explore in the late 1960s. Both sides of the record were based around drum and bass grooves, with the melodic parts snipped from hours of jams. These techniques, refined via the use of computers and digital audio equipment, are now standard amongst producers of electronically based music[citation needed]. Also cited as musical influences on the album by Davis were the contemporary composer Karlheinz Stockhausen,[9][10] who later recorded with the trumpeter in 1980,[11] and Paul Buckmaster (who played electric cello on the album and contributed some arrangements).
Buckmaster and Davis also recorded the song "Ife" in a session during the same period. The song failed to make On The Corner but instead appeared on Big Fun in 1974; it is possible that it wasn't included on the previous because of time constraints.
Track listing
All songs written by Miles Davis.
Side A
- "On the Corner; New York Girl; Thinkin' One Thing and Doin' Another; Vote for Miles" - 20:02
- "Black Satin" - 5:20
Side B
- "One and One" - 6:09
- "Helen Butte; Mr. Freedom X" - 23:18
Recorded on June 1 (A1), June 6 (B1-B2) and July 7 (A2), 1972. The 1993 CD reissue of On the Corner (which has the "Columbia Jazz Masterpieces" logo stamped on the front cover) separates each "composition" into a distinct track so that the album has eight tracks rather than four. Some later reissues returned the songs to their original, conflated status.
Personnel
- Miles Davis – electric trumpet with wah-wah
- Dave Liebman – soprano saxophone (A2)
- Carlos Garnett – soprano and tenor saxophone (B1, B2)
- Chick Corea – electric piano (A1)
- Herbie Hancock – electric piano, synthesizer
- Harold I. Williams – organ, synthesizer
- Lonnie Liston Smith – organ (B2)
- David Creamer (A2, B1, B2), John McLaughlin (A1) – electric guitar
- Michael Henderson – electric bass with Wah Wah
- Collin Walcott (A1, B1, B2), Khalil Balakrishna (A2) - electric sitar
- Bennie Maupin – bass clarinet (B1)
- Badal Roy – tabla
- Jack DeJohnette, Al Foster – drums
- Jabali Billy Hart – drums, bongos
- James "Mtume" Foreman, Don Alias – percussion
- Paul Buckmaster – cello, arrangements
References
- ^ Jurek, Thom (2011 [last update]). "On the Corner - Miles Davis | AllMusic". allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r106173. Retrieved 27 June 2011.
- ^ a b Chinen, Nate (October 2007). Review: The Complete On the Corner Sessions. JazzTimes. Retrieved on 2011-02-12.
- ^ Christgau, Robert (2011 [last update]). "Robert Christgau: CG: Miles Davis". robertchristgau.com. http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=Miles+Davis. Retrieved 27 June 2011.
- ^ Gleason, Ralph (2011 [last update]). "On The Corner by Miles Davis | Rolling Stone Music | Music Reviews". rollingstone.com. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/on-the-corner-19721207. Retrieved 27 June 2011.
- ^ Hermes, Will (November 2007). "Review: The Complete On the Corner Sessions". Spin: 124.
- ^ Smith, Chris (2011 [last update]). "Miles Davis - On The Corner - On Second Thought - Stylus Magazine". stylusmagazine.com. http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/on_second_thought/miles-davis-on-the-corner.htm. Retrieved 27 June 2011.
- ^ "Acclaimed Music - On the Corner". acclaimedmusic.net. 2010 [last update]. http://www.acclaimedmusic.net/Current/A2005.htm. Retrieved 27 June 2011.
- ^ Tingen, Paul (October 26, 2007). The most hated album in jazz. The Guardian. Retrieved on 2011-02-12.
- ^ "Miles Davis first heard Stockhausen's music in 1972, and its impact can be felt in Davis's 1972 recording On the Corner, in which cross-cultural elements are mixed with found elements." Barry Bergstein "Miles Davis and Karlheinz Stockhausen: A Reciprocal Relationship." The Musical Quarterly 76, no. 4. (Winter): p. 503.
- ^ In Davis' autobiography he states that "I had always written in a circular way and through Stockhausen I could see that I didn't want to ever play again from eight bars to eight bars, because I never end songs: they just keep going on. Through Stockhausen I understood music as a process of elimination and addition" (Miles, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1989, p. 329)
- ^ "In June of 1980, Miles Davis was joined by the German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen in the studios of Columbia Records; the recording of this collaboration is still unissued." Barry Bergstein "Miles Davis and Karlheinz Stockhausen: A Reciprocal Relationship" The Musical Quarterly Vol. 76, No. 4 (Winter, 1992), p. 502
External links
- On the Corner track sheets at the Miles Beyond web site
- The Most Hated Album in Jazz at The Guardian
- List of top album rankings for On the Corner at AcclaimedMusic.net
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