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August 09, 2007
Miles Davis' On the Corner now in a box set to prove that it is the origin of every drum n' bass line thereafter
Columbia/ Legacy announced the Fall release of a six disc box set of Miles Davis’ On the Corner. It is almost too easy to call Davis’ funk exploration into repetitive groove as controversial. Jazz critic Stanley Crouch once even wrote an essay On the Corner The Sellout of Miles Davis- which begins with the line, “The contemporary Miles Davis, when one hears his music or watches him perform, deserves the description that Nietzche gave of Wagner, ‘the greatest example of self-violation in the history of art’ " (to be fair, Nietzche said the same of Achtung Baby and Lou Reed’s Berlin).
Nevertheless it seems that the history of art can be very kind to such violations, and something once considered as a giant middle finger to the world of Jazz can now be described as cutting edge and groundbreaking.
For example here is “Black Satin” one of the more “accessible” tracks from the album which features heavy rhythmic overtones amidst splices of hand clapping and wah-wah’d horns.
For some reason the track brings me allusions of how Sesame Street’s Count Von Count’s segment would have sounded if he had more of a psychedelic upbringing. For a more critical look at “Black Satin,” Miles Davis vault keeper Bob Belden wrote, “The whole concept of layering and multi-level rhythm was achieved on this track….in a manner suggestive of reggae dub and techno, trance, and dance music in later years.”
If you are asking yourselves what could possibly be on this six disc box set that isn’t on the original, I may have an answer. I found a line from a few years back from the producer/ bassist Bill Laswell who commented that, “On the Corner is really just two bass lines over a beat, and all just cut up. You hear those little things which are just two minutes long; they’re just quick cuts pulled from the longer 15-20- minute beats. I have six reels of outtakes from On the Corner which didn’t even make the record.” My guess is that Columbia/ Legacy decided the time was right to finally do something with those six reels as well.
Posted by Yonah Korngold at August 9, 2007 06:18 PM
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Comments
I'm frankly impressed that you're on a full name basis with the Count.
Posted by: Randall Monty at August 9, 2007 07:13 PM
just didn't want to make The Count angry...for the sake of Klein's Numerology.
Posted by: yonah at August 9, 2007 07:47 PM
I feel like I've said this a thousand times, but the rule is: if you mention a Sesame Street character, you are obligated to mention him/her/it by full name on first reference. In other words, it's Suffalupagus on first mention, Snuffy thereafter.
Totally up a tree about no. 29,
--Dk
Posted by: david at August 10, 2007 08:56 AM
Ohhh man. I've gotta find out what the release date is so I can count the days!
Posted by: dkeifer at August 20, 2007 01:57 PM
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