From the opening four notes of Michael Henderson's hypnotically minimal bass that open the unedited master of "On the Corner," answered a few seconds later by the swirl of color, texture, and above all rhythm, it becomes a immediately apparent that Miles Davis had left the jazz world he helped to invent – forever. The 19-minute-and-25-second track has never been issued in full until now. It is one of the 31 tracks in The Complete On the Corner Sessions, a six-disc box recorded between 1972 and 1975 that centers on the albums On the Corner, Get Up with It, and the hodgepodge leftovers collection Big Fun. It is also the final of eight boxes in the series of Columbia's studio sessions with Davis from the 1950s through 1975, when he retired from music before his return in the 1980s. Previously issued have been Davis' historic sessions with John Coltrane in the first quintet, the Gil Evans collaborations, the Seven Steps to Heaven recordings, the complete second quintet recordings, and the complete In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, and Jack Johnson sessions. There have been a number of live sets as well; the most closely related one to this is the live Cellar Door Sessions 1970, issued in 2005.
Colin Marston is an American musician and recording engineer residing in New York City. He runs Menegroth, The Thousand Caves Recording Studio in Queens, New York and has recorded, mixed and mastered artists including Mivos Quartet, Anthony Braxton, Lydia Lunch, Mary Halvorson, Jon Irabagon, Judith Berkson, Oneida/People of the North, Rhys Chatham, Elliott Sharp, Weasel Walter, Peter Evans, John Zorn, Brian Chase, Kid Millions, Mick Barr, M Lamar, Kelly Moran, No Neck Blues Band, Defeated Sanity, Yo La Tengo, Orthrelm, Revenge, Kayo Dot, Jarboe, Origin, Panopticon, Liturgy, Artificial Brain, Pyrrhon, Deiphago and Unearthly Trance as well as his own bands. Marston is a no-less prolific musician and musical innovator. His four most active bands include Behold the Arctopus, Dysrhythmia, Krallice and the 2008 reunion lineup of Gorguts. He is also involved in the more experimental projects Indricothere, Byla, Hathenter, Encenathrakh, Glyptoglossio, Containor, Catatonic Effigy, Mossenek and Overishins.