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COLUMBIA-LEGACY ANNOUNCES FALL RELEASE FOR MILES DAVIS ON ON THE CORNER BOX SET DUE IN SEPTEMBER

From the Legacy Press Dept:

MILES DAVIS – The Complete On The Corner Sessions 6-CD box set (Columbia/Legacy)

By 1970, Miles Davis was on his way to creating a new orchestral approach to jazz music, one that drew from Ellington, incorporated electronic sounds and colors. His “jungle sound” would be developed out of these early-seventies experiments, and in his music would retain the spirit of renewal of an artist ever-changing. Don Alias remembers the time preceding the On The Corner sessions. “We had finished this tour of Europe [fall of ’71] and Miles had decided to go for a more funk oriented sound.” Jack DeJohnette rejoined the band upon its return to Europe . Keith Jarrett left by the end of 1971. The musical continuity that had begun with Coltrane ended with Jarrett and David Liebman. There would no longer be a majority of musicians within the band who had strong musical ties to the Davis tradition. Davis had moved closer and closer to the funk based sound of James Brown and Sly Stone, and the musicians he hired began to reflect this direction in his tastes. The first musician Davis would hire was Michael Henderson, an accomplished funk bass player. Henderson ’s “locked in” bass grooves simplified the ground that Davis wanted to walk on. Davis ’ sound headed to the bottom of the band. On The Corner has achieved a level of devotion among the hip cognoscenti. The LP, when issued, was received favorably by the newly converted Davis fans, as well as by the black music audience that had been following Miles. But the jazz critical establishment, which was still hung up on “Jazz-Rock-Fusion,” couldn’t find a kind word to say about it. On many levels, On The Corner was ahead of its time in the jazz world, but not so in the contemporary classical world. Tape manipulation was developed by the Paris and Darnstadt schools during the 1950s. Emerging from this world came Karlheinze Stockhausen, who became a “celebrity” in this world. Soon, all known musical boundaries were challenged, as much as Schoenberg did in the late nineteenth century. Paul Buckmaster brought that influence into Davis ’ musical world and freed up Davis ’ idea of “groove.” Buckmaster’s early experiments as a composer with what we would call today “looping” opened the mind of Davis and paved the way for his modus operandi from 1972 until 1980.

Last Modified : July 26th, 2007
Filed under : news, jazzandsoul
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