On the Corner

On the Corner
Studio album by Miles Davis
Released	October 11, 1972
Recorded	June 1, 6 and July 7, 1972 Columbia Studio E, New York City
Genre	Jazz-funk, jazz fusion
Length	54:49
Label	Columbia KC 31906
Producer	Teo Macero
Miles Davis chronology
Live-Evil (1971) On the Corner (1972) Big Fun (1974)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
JazzTimes	(favorable)
Robert Christgau	B+
Rolling Stone	(favorable)
Spin
Stylus Magazine	(favorable)
Penguin Guide to Jazz

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.

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.

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, who later recorded with the trumpeter in 1980, 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

1. "On the Corner; New York Girl; Thinkin' One Thing and Doin' Another; Vote for Miles" - 20:02
2. "Black Satin" - 5:20

Side B

1. "One and One" - 6:09
2. "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

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