Searching For Ararat

Build An Ark

Friday, April 13, 2012

Build An Ark is a musical collective that deserves your attention. Formed in 2001 in a response to the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, the founders of the band set forth to create a body of spiritually inclined, healing music designed to not only address the tragedies of that fateful day some 10 1/2 years ago, but also to soothe the rage and scarred psyche of a nation and world that witnessed with horror the events of that day and grieved for those many innocent lives lost in the carnage.

DJ, producer, and arranger Carlos Niño, along with composer, multi-instrumentalist and musical director Miguel Atwood-Ferguson (with help from percussionist Adam Rudolph) assembled a rotating cast of like minded musicians, dancer, drummers, and singers (among the latter most notably, the outstanding and expressive, Dwight Trible) who all hailed from the greater L.A. area to create a trans-cultural and inter-generational ensemble that has numbered upwards of twenty members at a time, and crossed three generations. Originally organized for a one-off radio performance, Build An Ark has since taken their message further, embarking on a small world tour, and recording several CD's of material over the last decade. Notable names such as percussionist Big Black, pianist Nate Morgan (formerly of Horace Tapscott's Pan-African Peoples Arkestra), trombonist Phil Ranelin (founder of Detroit's Tribe music collective of the 1970's, and co-founder of Tribe Records), as well as violinist Michael White (formerly of Jerry Hahn Brotherhood, The Fourth Way, Pharaoh Sanders, and others) remain semi-regulars with the ensemble, as does the aforementioned Dwight Trible, while the core of the band revolves around a sterling cast of younger, up and coming L.A. musicians who handle themselves with aplomb in this collective setting. As my friend Thom Jurek of the All Music Guide has pointed out, "Build An Ark owe a great debt to the spiritual traditions of built by labels like Tribe, Strata-East, Nimbus, Black Jazz, and Impulse, but yet they sound like no one but themselves. Many of these players come from outside the jazz tradition, and indeed those who come from within it hail from the outer edges, yet their collective music is decidedly inside. Drawing from foundations laid out by their predecessors like Gary Bartz and Azar Lawrence, Build An Ark readily references the past, but the music they expertly compose and perform is part of a continuum that looks towards the future as a fulfillment of its promise, and a brand new chapter in the spiritual book."

About The Music

The music contained in 'Searching For Ararat' does not, oddly enough, come strictly from the songbook, or even the catalog of Build An Ark. I've also included four performances from the band's leaders (Niño and Atwood-Ferguson), songs they recorded as a duo taken on a release called, 'Suite For Ma Dukes.' You'll also find 'A Love Supreme' taken from 'Free Spirits Presents Acknowledgement: For J.C.,' another side project with vocalist, Dwight Trible, members of Build An Ark, as well as Billy Higgins and Carter Jefferson. Finally, the two additional selections that I decided to include from 'Swedish Orchestral Favourites, Vol.2' hold no association whatsoever with Build An Ark, however they do possess a certain spiritual and healing quality in their mood, and therefore fit in quite comfortably I think without seriously detracting from the stars of the post. If you're asking why I ever included them in the first place, the answer is lost on me today. It's been several months since I originally assembled the mix. Just go with it, my friend. They all point toward the same destination, that of Mount Ararat, the Turkish mountain peak where Noah's biblical Ark rested after the deluge of the Great Flood. A mountain peak that in this case serves as a metaphor, one that symbolizes a place of peace, the end of hatred and suffering, and spiritual salvation for all.

Carlos Niño

Searching For Ararat, Vol.1

1) Love
2) This Prayer: For The Whole World
3) Fall In Love
Miguel Atwood-Ferguson & Carlos Niño
4) May It Be So
5) Nature
6) Sweet Thing II
7) Sunshine I
8) Antiquity
Miguel Atwood-Ferguson & Carlos Niño
9) Love (Solo Piano)
10) Frumerie's 'Pastoral Suite, Pts.1-3'
Sarah Lindloff & The Swedish Chamber Orchestra
11) Find A Way
12) World Peace Now


Searching For Ararat, Vol.2

1) A Love Supreme
Dwight Trible w/Build An Ark, Billy Higgins & Carter Jefferson
2) In Her Smile
3) Larsson's 'Lyric Fantasy, Opus 54'
Petter Sundkvist & The Swedish Chamber Orchestra
4) Love, Sweet Like Sugar Can (DNTEL Remix)
5) Sunshine II
6) The Blessing Song
7) Morning Glory
8) Precious, Priceless
9) Nag Champa
Miguel Atwood-Ferguson & Carlos Niño
10) Alice's Chord
11) Improvisation: Day 2


Source material for 'Searching For Ararat, Vols.1&2' comes from the following:
Peace With Every Step (2004)/Dawn (2007)
Love, Pt.1 (2009)/Love, Pt.2 (2010)
The Stars Are Singing Too (2011)
Free Spirits Presents Acknowledgement: For J.C. (2006)
Suite For Ma Dukes (2009)
Swedish Orchestral Favourites, Vol.2 (2000)