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. Read Full BioCould 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.
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ROB-IN-PHILLY
LOL...Check the personnel on this album...A virtual Who's who in jazz and fusion...:)
Miles Davis – electric trumpet
Dave Liebman – soprano saxophone (A1)
Carlos Garnett – soprano and tenor saxophone (B1, B2)
Chick Corea – electric piano
Herbie Hancock – electric piano, synthesizer
Harold I. Williams – organ, synthesizer
David Creamer (A2, B1, B2), John McLaughlin (A1) – electric guitar
Michael Henderson – electric bass
Collin Walcott (A1, B1, B2), Khalil Balakrishna (A2) - electric sitar
Bennie Maupin – bass clarinet (B1)
Badal Roy – tabla
Jack DeJohnette– drums
Jabali Billy Hart – drums, bongos
James "Mtume" Foreman, Don Alias – percussion
Paul Buckmaster – cello, arrangements
Robert Honablue - engineer
Fords_nothere
Not sure if anyone has posted the lineup for this one but, just in case, here it is.
Miles Davis – electric trumpet with wah-wah, keyboards
Carlos Garnett – soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone
Dave Liebman – soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone
Bennie Maupin – bass clarinet
Chick Corea – Fender Rhodes, keyboards
Herbie Hancock – Fender Rhodes, keyboards
Harold Ivory Williams – keyboards
Cedric Lawson – organ
Dave Creamer – guitar
Reggie Lucas – guitar
John McLaughlin – guitar
Khalil Balakrishna – electric sitar
Collin Walcott – electric sitar
Michael Henderson – bass guitar
Don Alias – drums, percussion
Jack DeJohnette – drums
Al Foster – drums
Billy Hart – drums
James Mtume – percussion
Badal Roy – tabla
Randy Slonaker
I have to respect Miles. The man just did his thing, whether anyone else understood it or not. Decades later, the rest of the world caught up.
Brad Gillian
@MilkTrafficker Ah gee wiz baby I do believe you've drank too much milk. Maybe baby you can assend up to 'Kool-Aid...Some day?
SirUncleCid
@frederick howard I think we have a regression going on.
jazzyrach
@MilkTrafficker You could have just said I dont get it. The fact you dont doesnt mean there is no melody. People said the same about rap, same people are dancing to it now. its all about something different which creates its own melody, thats jazz and Miles, now shut up and just listen
laplace.1817
@MilkTrafficker Look at this douchebag with his asinine schpiel on two men that defined the 20th century as far as art and music is concerned. Go get some meds dude. You're delusional. Might I add, what the fuck have you done that's remotely significant?
Dee Best
@MilkTrafficker And who are you?
Matt McDonough
No one:
Miles: Hi kids! You like Sly and
S T O C K H A U S E N
Melvin Jackson
but i get your point and i like it
Melvin Jackson
I don't think Miles ever asked a single person if they liked anything ever
Zack Zallie
Honestly. Best combination ever. Bowie and Eno might have inspired from this album.