Miles Davis - On the Corner
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Artist: Miles DavisBrand: DAVIS,MILES
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 2000-08-01
Music Label: Sony
Soundtracks:
- On the Corner/New York Girl/Thinking of One Thing and Doing Another
- Black Satin
- One and One
- Helen Butte/Mr. Freedom X
Music reviews of On the Corner
Music Review: THE JAZZ COMMUNITY HATED IT
Rating: 2 Stars
Those of us who did not cut our teeth on Miles Davis' KIND OF BLUE "period" (say 1956-1968) as it was actually occurring may wonder what all the fuss was about; but ON THE CORNER released at the end of 1972 was as close to jazz heresy as was imaginable. Here was the "legend in his own time" who recorded several classic jazz albums and for whom many an aspiring young jazz musician dreamed of joining his band, virtually turning his back on his beloved embattled art form and throwing his lot in with the barbarians.
Jazz, "America's Truly Original Art Form", had been taking it on the chin for several years. After several decades struggling, jazz had finally achieved the respect of millions around the world and at home. It had literally gone from the whorehouse to Carnegie Hall and was being taken seriously as an art. Then came rock and roll. Within fifteen years, live jazz music could be found in few venues and record sales dropped precipitously. The jazz community needed a champion to save it from diminishing sales and significance and Miles Davis had been an effective star for the cause. Most adults at the time steeled themselves in the belief that once the "kids" then so captivated by rock grew up then they would naturally gravitate to more "mature" music. All they had to do was wait out this temporary "drought" while conserving jazz's treasures and soon the hearts of baby boomers would harken to the long-suffering but forgiving jazz.
But Miles Davis was a restless individual. Musically curious, he had moved from bop, west-coast, cool, modal and hard-bop and back and forth. BITCHES BREW was a singular fusion of rock and jazz and a true milestone in American music. As much as most in the jazz community loved it, BITCHES BREW still made jazz lovers more than a little uncomfortable and concerned.
When ON THE CORNER was released, the jazz community HATED it and they said so in no uncertain terms. To this day, jazz handbooks refer to this as Miles' worst record. Miles himself claimed indifference but he appeared stung and a little bitter at the reaction of his once-admirers. The liner notes to this CD reissue betray this defensiveness by comparing Davis to Ellington and claiming that ON THE CORNER was an important and significant undertaking whether it was any good or not. (!!!) Not exactly a warm endorsement.
Looking back on it today, it is difficult to see what all the fuss was about. Indeed, after crossing the "funk ocean" of the 1970's and 1980's, there seems to be little that is all that objectionable or surprising about it. Jazz has long absorbed the twists and turns of funk into its vocabulary-so much so that many regard it as "old hat". And that is where the trouble rests, while ON THE CORNER is not as horrible as everyone made it out to be, it isn't particularly any good either.
With the first cut one is hit with a mesh of sounds and it seems that instead of a beginning someone just switched the tape machine on in the middle of the proceedings. Washes of rhythms and beeps and groans come out of the two keyboardists, Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea. John McLaughlin drops in some spacey chords while Jack DeJohnette rumbles on the drum kit. Michael Henderson maintains the bass funk grove throughout while saxophones, electric sitars, and Indian tabla and tape loops and dropped in a various points. The whole emphasis is on the "groove" and thus one isn't left with any sense of direction to music is going in. With all the sounds one soon begins to wonder just where is Miles in all this. But Miles at this point in time took to running his horn through electronics and utilizing a wah-wah pedal. What sound like a guitar running through an effects pedal is in fact Miles blowing his horn in several instances. This first cut, "On The Corner/New York Girl/Thinkin' Of One Thing And Doin' Another/Vote for Miles" ends up running almost twenty minutes. (I defy anyone to be able to tell when one part ends and another begins.)
"Black Satin" and "One And One" are much shorter pieces that are a little leaner in instrumentation but the same emphasis is on the "groove". At first it strikes you that the shorter cuts are more successful than either the longer first and last cuts; but they end up not holding interest.
The last cut, "Helen Butte/Mr. Freedom X", runs at just over twenty-three minutes and too my taste is a little annoying. While superficially similar to "On The Corner", it is not as varied and doesn't run through as many ideas.
The Miles Davis of the 1970's has his defenders; but I am not one of them. For all his overtures to the rock world, Davis drew very little actual popular interest. "Funk" devotees may have been respectful of Davis; but few bothered to listen.
All in all, ON THE CORNER may have been "first" and "influential"; but doing something first does not mean your particular effort was worthwhile.
Description of On the Corner
No Description Available.Genre: Jazz Music
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 1-AUG-2000
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