Columbia has been releasing a series of Miles Davis box sets, and the final installment was recently issued. It’s some late Miles, when he was operating way beyond the range of comfort for most critics. I haven’t quite heard all of On The Corner, but since I’ve recently gained an appreciation for post-1969 Miles, I am sure I’m gonna dig this one. The box set looks beautifully packaged.
Wax Poetics has an interesting feature in their current issue (who’d believe there’s a rag with Miles Davis on the cover in 2007?). One interesting story that was mentioned there explains the cover of On the Corner. According to Mtume, the drummer for these sessions, Miles always wanted his music to reach young Black audiences. If they weren’t listening to his music, he felt that he was doing something wrong, which is an interesting fundamental philosophy toward his craft. In fact it’s the only time I’ve ever really heard him talk about “wrong” in his music. Anyway, the cover was meant to reach out and relate to young Black listeners, though undoubtedly everyone has now heard Miles’ wide ranging influence on all forms of popular music.
The box set can be grabbed for about $100, but I’m thinking about picking up the individual CD of the original release first, just to tide me over for now.
