Miles Davis - On The Corner - MFSL SACD

Miles Davis On the Corner on Numbered Edition 180g LP from Mobile Fidelity

Get Down and Make It Funky: Miles Davis' Groundbreaking On the Corner Focuses on the Groove and Bottom End

Mastered From the Original Master Tapes: Mobile Fidelity 180g LP Reveals Multiple Levels of Rhythm, Visceral Bass, and Pioneering Production Techniques In Transparent Fashion

Exotic, Bold, Streetwise: Spirited 1972 Album Embraces Davis' "Jungle Sound" With Percussive Foundations, Trance Loops, and Transformational Arrangements

Miles Davis' boundlessly influential On the Corner was so far ahead of its time upon release in 1972, the jazz cognoscenti rejected its groundbreaking concoction as middling in nature. Yet time has a way of righting wrongs and shifting views by adding needed context and perspective to visionary ideas, music, and approaches – the likes of which fill Davis' boldest and most controversial – undertaking. Designed to bring the focus back on the groove and bottom-end frequencies, the funk-loaded On the Corner revolutionized jazz. It also set new standards for record production, presaging remixing and electronica by more than a decade. And the work has never sounded more thrilling.

Mastered from the original master tapes and pressed at RTI, Mobile Fidelity's numbered-edition 180g LP of On the Corner exposes the internal mechanisms, free-associated playing, and then-unmatched studio techniques in vivid audiophile-grade sonics. The low end, crucial to every composition here, is both heard and felt, with locked-in bass lines and low-range percussion conveyed as taut, solid, and visceral passages. You can even discern the multiple levels of rhythm Davis employed on complex tracks such as "Black Satin," as On the Corner stands as his first effort to use overdubbing and multiple tape machines.

New degrees of spaciousness and airiness – equally important to the musique concrete arrangements – give the impression Davis and Co.'s creations float in space. Instruments are portrayed in three-dimensional manners, rhythmic loops retain tonal purity, and horn solos skitter across an extra-wide soundstage that takes listeners into Columbia's Studio E. Mobile Fidelity's analog version captures Teo Macero's innovative production – and the trumpeter's cutting-edge aural collages – in definitive fashion.

Heavily inspired by Sly and the Family Stone, On the Corner portrays street vibes and remains Davis' blackest-sounding record. The conscious attempt to connect with youthful audiences tapped into rock and funk is evident not only on the colorful cartoon cover art depicting hot-pants and zoot-suit revelers, but in the music's emphasis of recurring drum and bass grooves. Distinct from Davis' earlier fusion experiments, the record's long-misunderstood set dials back improvisation in favor of beats, loops, and atmospherics that generate trance-like effects. While Davis utilizes his band for core duties – Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock prominently figure – he also relies on an all-star cast of sidemen for concentrated soloing and additional support.

Miles Davis On the Corner on Numbered Edition Hybrid SACD from Mobile Fidelity

Get Down and Make It Funky: Miles Davis' Groundbreaking On the Corner Focuses on the Groove and Bottom End

Mastered From the Original Master Tapes: Mobile Fidelity Hybrid SACD Reveals Multiple Levels of Rhythm, Visceral Bass, and Pioneering Production Techniques In Transparent Fashion

Exotic, Bold, Streetwise: Spirited 1972 Album Embraces Davis' "Jungle Sound" With Percussive Foundations, Trance Loops, and Transformational Arrangements

Miles Davis' boundlessly influential On the Corner was so far ahead of its time upon release in 1972, the jazz cognoscenti rejected its groundbreaking concoction as middling in nature. Yet time has a way of righting wrongs and shifting views by adding needed context and perspective to visionary ideas, music, and approaches – the likes of which fill Davis' boldest and most controversial – undertaking. Designed to bring the focus back on the groove and bottom-end frequen