Miles Davis - The Complete On the Corner Sessions

Miles Davis' The Complete On The Corner Sessions, the eighth and final deluxe box set in the Grammy Award-winning Miles Davis Series, includes more than 6 hours of music - twelve previously unissued tracks plus five tracks previously unissued in full - covering sixteen sessions from On the Cornerm, Big Fun, and Get Up With it. Joined by such jazz legends as Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, John McLaughlin, Jack DeJohnette, Billy Hart, and countless others, this 6-CD deluxe edition also contains a 120-page full-color booklet with liner notes and essays by Grammy-winning producer Bob Belden, journalist Tom Terrell, and acclaimed arranger and composer Paul Buckmaster. With such a comprehensive collection of Miles Davis' songs, plus dozens of rare photographs and new illustrations, this very special deluxe box set is a must have for any fan of Davis' genius or jazz music in general. Album Description

ahead of its time

It is understandable why this music was so unjustly trashed when it came out in 1973. For the most part, jazz critics and fans thought of funk as pimpy street trash, and people listening to the Ohio Players or Sly Stone probably didn't understand the more esoteric directions in jazz.

This music mixes both, and is amazing. The reduntant grooves come out of funk, but Miles mixed in timing concepts and musical reductions cooked up by Stockhausen, and by association, the great German band, Can. (Can was also ripping off Miles at this point, and if this sounds circular, in music, theivery among the Gods usually is.) The result was a powerful template for improvasation.

Hostle, provocative, expermental and sometimes impenitrable, this is defiantely music you have to sit with. It is funk as a canvas for sound, not dance music to party to. But it is like a painting that seems to change colors the more you look. There are truckloads of nuances in this music.

This material also provided the basic structures for Hip Hop and Dance Music. It could pass for being brand new.

There is a lot to mine on this mammouth set. But the remastering breathes new life into the music, and there is a lot of subtance here. The basslines are a lot fatter than on vynal, and you can hear all those percussive snips and snaps Miles was going after. Hearing the music in one big capsule such as this also shows you how diverse and ambitous Miles' framework actually was; this gets overlooked, because these recordings were origonally released in such a fragmented way.

Absolutley worth taking the plunge. June 18, 2008

Exceeds My Expectation

Normally, when listening to previously unreleased music, I find it mediocre at best (which explains why it wasn't released in the first place). However, the unreleased tracks in this set are outstanding. In particular, "What They Do" is an incredible bit of what the music that Miles was recording during the early 70's is all about--hard driving, intense, and a cut that, no matter how many times I listen to it, I keep hearing something different. Regardless of what you call this brand of music, it is truly unique and stands alone. April 8, 2008

Bring the Funk

This 6-disc set chronicling Miles Davis' studio recordings from 1972-1975 is outstanding. It features about 2 discs worth of previously unreleased material, all of which I consider to be indispensible. The sound is improved as the entire set got 24/96 remastering treatment from Sony. Trying to list out who is playing here would be an exercise in futility, as the sidemen are too numerous to list. Suffice to say, this set features some unreleased McGlaughlin work from the actual On the Corner Sessions, as well as some unreleased material in the vein of the straight-up uberfunk found on the albums "Get Up With It" and "Big Fun".
Kudos to Sony for the fantastic job they have done with the Miles Davis box sets. The metal spine packaging for this release is beautiful, with an enormous booklet that features complete track listings, session details, and boatloads of liner notes and photos. I have a few of these sets, and the quality of the presentation is fantastic. Expensive? Yes, but eminently worth it for the Miles completist like myself. And as with all of these sets, the price drops significantly after the first few months and it's available on this site for a fraction of list price.
This set is highly recommended for fans of Miles' electric period. Newcomers had better steer clear of this set until they have listened to the official releases from this time period. Miles Davis' music from this era is extremely polarizing...people either love it or hate it. I guess that's what happens when you push music itself to the limit. March 5, 2008

The Funkilicious Foray Into Fusion

The boxed set is a vast exploration into the sessions which produced On the Corner, Big Fun and Get Up With It. On the Corner was released on July 1, 1972, and the 6-discs encompass 16 sessions in Columbia Studio B (New York City) from March 9, 1972, to May 5, 1975.

Utilizing tape loops, rhythms & grooves and musicians not burdened with playing charts, Miles Davis as ensemble leader shapes the scene through colors, textures and moods, which brings an intensity of sound. With the wah-wah pedal and muted trumpet - and, at times, an eerie, but elegant work on keyboards - Davis the soloist sets a path for the others to follow.

With nearly seven hours of music - and a 120-page booklet - this is a definitive collection of Davis making a funkified statement, which sounds as revolutionary today as it was more than 30 years ago. March 1, 2008

To quoteT. Rex, 'Rip Off'

A hundred and something dollars, and for music that anyone who is likely to shell out the outrageous price for in all likelihood already owns - not just "On The Corner" (which is an all time top 10 album in my book), but the classic double album "Get Up With It" (1974)and slightly less classic "Big Fun" (issued 1974, but a collection of outtakes dating back as far as far as five years). I'd much prefer a single (or at most doubl) CD of the original album with the "On The Corner" outtakes (not many for a six cd box), included. But that would generate less revenue, at least over the holidays. Maybe such a baby will be born miraculaously after the retailers pack and return unsold copies of this misrepresentitive and deeply disappointing set. Again, OTC is classic and vastly influential, edgy, angry, and rhythmically dense: Essential. The box, sadly, is not. January 29, 2008

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