Amazon.co.jp
発表当時なにかと物議を釀した作品。1972年録音なので、ヒップホップが登場するずっと以前の作品だが、すでにこの時点でマイルスがヒップホップを先取りしていたことがわかって非常に興味深い。マイルスは当時、スライ&ファミリー・ストーンに興味を示していて、本作は、スライ的な要素も多分に加味したマイルス流のストリート・ミュージックといったところ。
ドラマー&パーカッション奏者を大勢取りそろえたリズムの洪水・リズムの饗宴(きょうえん)が圧巻で、その洪水の中からマイルスのワウワウ・トランペット、デイヴ・リーブマン&カルロス・ガーネットのサックスが浮遊物のように舞い上がり漂う。アフロ・ファンク的なリズムが基調だが、そこにバダル・ロイのタブラがインド的な雰囲気を付け加える。
ほとんど切れ目なく延々と続く演奏、どこで終わるのかまったく予測できないミニマル・ミュージック的な展開は、それまでのジャズの概念から逸脱したものなので、当時のリスナーが度肝を抜かれたのも当然といえば当然だろう。(市川正二)
From Amazon.com
In 1969, the house of jazz was shaken to its foundations when Miles Davis began to dabble in elements of rock when he recorded
Bitches Brew. Many of his faithful quickly fell by the wayside with what they considered this outrageous gesture. Nonetheless, a younger audience quickly arose to embrace what he was doing. But when
On the Corner was issued in 1972, it seemed that everyone jumped ship: Miles's effort to bring together the latest developments in European experimental music (
Stockhausen's "Mixtur," for example) and Black American funk (Sly Stone) fell on dead ears. What's more, the art work on the cover was peculiar, there was no list of musicians, and the signature Davis trumpet sound was largely buried in the mix. Now, almost 30 years later, time has caught up to Davis, and this record seems the clear ancestor of hip-hop, trance, jungle, and other musics whose methods involve slowly revealing their meaning through repetition, small variation, and funk without cease. Though broken into tracks, it seems more like a single groove, swirling with every trend that was in the air at the time. Forget about conventional melody, harmony, and structure. Davis erased those elements along with the hierarchy that rules them. New digital remastering makes this methodology seem much clearer, and the prejudices of 30 years ago may yet fade into the distance.
--John F. Szwed