The Complete On The Corner Sessions (CD)

• Category:  Music  »  Jazz  »  Trumpet
• Format: CD   Learn more about the CD format using Tower WIKI.
• Release Date: September 25, 2007
• Number of Discs: 6
• UPC: 886970623926
• WAPI (Tower ID): 111307177
• Average Customer Review:    (1 customer review)
• Tower.com Sales Rank: #9282 in Music (See Top 100 Music Bestsellers)
• #491 in Jazz (See Top 100 Jazz Bestsellers)
• #36 in Trumpet (See Top 100 Trumpet Bestsellers)

Rolling Stone (p.199) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Nothing in these recordings...moves in consort to a fixed resolution: saxes, guitars, tumbling percussion; even Davis' commanding gales of trumpet."
Spin (p.124) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Miles smeared electronic horns, guitars, and sitars over heavy funk..."
Entertainment Weekly (p.73) - "[With a] sinister swirl of heavy bass, complex rhythm, and even sitar and tabla....Exhilarating music..." -- Grade: A-
Uncut (p.102) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "The result sees futuristic street funk, African trance and Indian ragas refracted through the lens of avant-garde minimalism. Its grooves are spellbindingly freaky, ultra futuristic, yet utterly accessible."
The Wire (p.56) - "[A] constantly mutating sound tapestry whose detail is impossible to fully register, and a propulsive dance music that induces a physical response....What is certain is that the music here is indispensable..."
JazzTimes (p.67) - "Its otherworldly funk, somehow both hypnotic and clangorous, set the precedent for a whole subspecies of DJ culture."
Vibe (p.94) - "[T]he resulting decades bear out how the rhythmic loops and edits here blueprinted the music-making of the future."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.114) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "ON THE CORNER has become a late 20th century milestone, an inspiration right across the spectrum of rock, dance, ambient, and jazz. Future music that has found its time..."

Personnel: Miles Davis (trumpet, electric piano); Pete Cosey (guitar, drums); Cornell Dupree, Dominique Gaumont, John McLaughlin, Reggie Lucas, Dave Creamer (guitar); Colin Walcott, Khalil Balakrishna (electric sitar); Bennie Maupin (flute, bass clarinet); Dave Liebman (flute, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone); Sonny Fortune (flute, soprano saxophone); Wally Chambers (harmonica); Carlos Garnett (sopranino saxophone, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone); Dave Lieberman, John Stubblefield (soprano saxophone); Harold Ivory Williams, Herbie Hancock (electric piano, organ, synthesizer); Cedric Lawson (electric piano, organ); Lonnie Liston Smith (electric piano); Chick Corea (synthesizer); Michael Henderson (electric bass); Billy Hart (drums, cowbells, wood block, percussion); Jack DeJohnette, Al Foster, Bernard Purdie (drums); Mtume (congas, claves, percussion); Don Alias (congas, kalimba, percussion); Badal Roy (tabla).

In a sense, the 1972 release ON THE CORNER was the culmination of what Miles Davis had been working towards since 1969's IN A SILENT WAY, where he began experimenting with a full-on electric ensemble and moving beyond straight-ahead jazz. THE COMPLETE ON THE CORNER SESSIONS, boasting six discs and a wealth of previously unheard music, shines a light on just how groundbreaking these sessions were.

With a huge cast of accompanists including John McLaughlin, Chick Corea, Bernard Purdie, and many more, Davis definitively transcended the jazz template and fully embraced a new form that incorporated jazz, rock, funk, and the avant garde, but was truly its own beast.

Eschewing harmonic/melodic development, these tracks are powered by shifts in dynamics and texture over percolating grooves, and would prove hugely influential to hip-hop, dub, electronica, and more, for decades to come. By including outtakes and full versions of edited tracks, this collection finally lets the layers of Miles and producer Teo Macero's complex tapestry unfold with the proper breathing room, making it clear why what was initially one of Miles' worst-selling albums would eventually be regarded as a high-water mark even he would never surpass.