Miles Davis
On The Corner

The genius of Miles Davis knew no bounds. Certainly, among the more traditionalist jazz music listeners, this album will not enjoy a good reputation; whether it is because the musicians accompanying Davis on this journey are not up to the talents we could hear on “In a Silent Way” or “Bitches Brew,” or because the horrid cover has discouraged more than a few, the fact is that “On the Corner,” released in 1972 during the height of the funk and psychedelic revolution, is almost never cited in the anthologies on Davis as one of his seminal albums.
Borrowing ideas from musicians like Stockhausen, Ornette Coleman, Paul Buckmaster, James Brown, Sly Stone, and Jimi Hendrix, Davis creates an authentic masterpiece for its innovative and experimental charge, which will heavily influence that “Head Hunters” released the following year, which we all know and love.

Here, too, we can find some of the main elements characterizing that shift in the musical aesthetic of Davis's 70s production, such as the use (typically funky) of the wha-wha pedal in the electric guitar, and of course the minimal presence of harmonic and melodic elements; a revolution, this, already enacted in the two masterpieces dated 1969 mentioned at the beginning of the review.
Absolutely to be mentioned is “One on One” for its hypnotic and powerful electric bass riff that repeats, identical to itself, throughout the six minutes of the track; “Black Satin” is a very engaging funk with a sinuous rhythm, while the two suites, namely the medley that opens the album and the concluding “Helen Butte/Mr. Freedom,” result very complex and articulated as a whole, even though they present some passages not quite up to par.
On the Corner triggered a real media earthquake among the more narrow-minded critics who initially conceded they had lost the most charismatic trumpeter of all time; they were terribly wrong. This album indeed inspired internationally renowned musicians such as guitarist James Blood Ulmer, the Screaming Headless Torsos, John Zorn, Tim Berne, Vernon Reid and many others.

The lyric and inspired vein of Miles’s trumpet interventions (here more sparse and fleeting compared to the past), let us glimpse his unmistakable lyricism consolidated over the years, diametrically opposed to the cacophonic and noisy texture operated by the group.
Ultimately, this album has a historical importance far superior to that which is normally recognized and attributed to it, and although it certainly does not fall within the circle of Miles's more accessible records to the masses, it surely represents a document of great importance, as it perfectly blends all the musical trends that urban black music was experimenting with during that period. All, of course, filtered according to the tastes and incredible talent of a musician like Davis.
A must-have.

GENRE: Jazz-Funk