On the Corner

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Professional reviews
On the Corner

Studio album by Miles Davis
Released	1972
Recorded	June 1, 1972 - June 6, 1972
Genre	Jazz
Length	54:39
Label	Columbia Records/Legacy Recordings
Producer(s)	Teo Macero
All Music Guide link
Miles Davis chronology
A Tribute to Jack Johnson (1970)	On the Corner (1972)	Big Fun (1969 - 1972)

On the Corner is an album recorded in June and September 1972 by Miles Davis. One of the musician's worst selling and least received recordings at the time of its release, its critical standing has improved immeasurably since and is now widely considered to be one of the pivotal building blocks of hip hop, drum and bass, and electronic music.

At the time, Davis claimed it was an attempt to connect with a 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 for the musique concrete 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 rhythmically around simple, repetitive drum and bass grooves (the track delineations below were arbitrary at best), with the "melodic" parts snipped from hours of meandering jams. These techniques, refined via the use of computers and digital audio equipment, are now standard amongst producers of electronically-based music. Also cited as musical influences on the album by Davis were the contemporary composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, who was later falsely rumored to have recorded with the trumpeter in the late 1970s, and Paul Buckmaster (who played electric cello on the album and contributed some arrangements).

[edit] Track listing

"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"

The 1993 CD reissue also separates each composition into different tracks so the album has 8 tracks rather than 4. This issue has the "Columbia Jazz Masterpieces" logo stamped on the front cover.