Once lambasted by the mainstream jazz community (Bill Coleman once said it was “an insult to the intellect of the people”), On the Corner has since been reappraised as a groundbreaking and visionary work that was way ahead of its time. Fusing funk, rock, electronica, and jazz together, Davis’ tested the limits of what the definition of music can be. Listening to this album feels like a trip on acid– swirling vortexes of dense sound, hypnotic and pulsating, with a raw intensity that lacks an identifiable center. The lineup is legendary (Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, John MacLaughlin, and Al Foster to name a few) but Davis purposefully obscured individual contributions by removing the names of musicians from the packaging to make the instruments less identifiable to critics. It’s an unrelentingly journey into sonic obscurity that never lets up through its 50-minute runtime.
Standout Songs: “Black Satin”, “One and One”
