Track Listing

1. On The Corner
2. New York Girl
3. Thinkin' One Thing And Doin' Another
4. Vote For Miles
5. Black Satin
6. One And One
7. Helen Butte
8. Mr Freedom X

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #48467 in Music
• Released on: 2000-08-07
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered

Amazon.co.uk Review
This is the point in 1972 at which Miles tried to blend the grooves of Sly Stone and James Brown with jazz, just as Herbie Hancock did so differently--and so effectively--the following year on Head Hunters. But Miles's version of jazz-plus-funk lacked the ingenuity, precision, range and jazz content of Herbie's work. Where Herbie devised carefully crafted structures with interlocking, complementary parts, Miles seemed to rely hopefully on one or two chord vamps and one or two rhythmic variations. This is a beautifully produced reissue, but the liner note's talk about the pioneering aspects of the music--tape looping and overdubbing--doesn't alter the outcome. From a jazz point of view, the strongest feature of these pieces is the presence of solos by Dave Liebman, David Creamer and Herbie Hancock in which they use fluent chromatic movement to bring colour to essentially monochrome backgrounds. --Mark Gilbert

CD Description
ON THE CORNER enjoys a special cult status among musicians,anticipating as it does the punk funk/acid jazz movements. For Miles Davis, ON THE CORNER was another seismic shift. Miles was particularly fond of the lyric sweep of Hendrixian electric guitar, the James Brown-like rhythmic thump of Fender bass, and the bell-like timbre and chordal possibilities of the Fender/Rhodes electric piano. Now the trumpeter soughtto incorporate the feel of street rhythms from around the world and to reflect the influence of modern electronic composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen.
So while ON THE CORNER is generously populated with top-flight jazz players, Davis was zeroing in on a contemporary approach not beholden to jazz players of jazz rhythmic postures--although group improvisation is still very much the order of the day. In paving the way for his Afro-psychedelic working bands of the mid-70's, Davis was roundly dissed, but ON THE CORNER endures brilliantly--the dark lady of Miles' musical sonnets.
The album is a furious carnival of rhythm. The first section is dominated by an Afro-Cuban groove, the eerie distortion of Miles' wah-wah trumpet, John McLaughlin's nasty electric leads and a swelter of rhythms--every instrument seemingly transformed into a drum. The second section beginning with "Black Satin" is driven along by a commanding Michael Henderson bass line, a celestial drone of Indian bells, sitars, tablas, congas and handclaps, some skanky Herbie Hancock keyboards, anda skittering Davis solo.

Customer Reviews

circular grooves
You either get this or you don't. I got it after a couple of listens and the realisation that the Master had moved on yet again. With this album Miles left many jazz purists behind - understandable, perhaps, as this was the most radical experiment in his electric period so far. I've always preferred the first track - or the 4 tracks which make up the one piece. It has a hypnotic, circular groove which is funky yet spacey at the same time. There is much less of the soloing that jazz listeners would expect - instead trumpet, sax or guitar (John McLaughlin is brilliant on the opening track - or 4 tracks) rise to just above the surface only to disappear again into the mix/mesh. The rhythm section is essentially a drum choir, and Michael Henderson once again shows that he is one of the all-time great bass players, this time holding it all together with the zen-like economy of Aston "Family Man" Barrett. It would be interesting to hear a Bill Laswell reconstruction of the whole album, as he opens Black Satin up to great effect on Panthalassa.

Funk+Jazz=One Hell of a Party!
This album is really one long piece which improvises around a certain funky groove with tablas, bells, drums, clapping, bass and, yep, horn. Though hardly the definative Miles album it is certainly very enjoyable with jerking funk repetition and heady swirl of familiar 70s sounds captured warmly with growling bass and dynamic percussion.

Excellent 70s funk
Out of all Davis' albums, I personally think this is amongst his best. The 70s grove and originalty means that it is not to everybodies taste - often the chin stroking crowd. I've been listing to the LP for 20 years and still think it is extremely fresh. Highly recommended and great value at £7.