Build An Ark - Dawn

Astral travelling

Continuing the spiritual jazz tradition exemplified by Pharoah Sanders and John and Alice Coltrane (to whom this is dedicated), Los Angeles-based collective Build An Ark have followed their acclaimed debut with another exceptional set of transcendental jazz. Led by producer extraordinaire Carlos Nino and former Sanders sideman Dwight Trible, the direction is markedly retro, but also outwardlooking, managing to blend elements from African, West Coast American and Latin music into a seamless genre-bending mélange.

As you might expect from a group boasting 20 members playing a style that has always looked to the exotic, a bewildering array of instruments feature here, from violins to flute, harp, kalimba, congas and the djembe. There are some beautiful three-minute vignettes but the best tracks are extended workouts that give the orchestration full opportunity to breathe: Morning Glory is driven to its epiphany by a full choir and violin section; a studied chorus of real beauty and power. Album closer Heaven has an almost filmic take on the spiritual sound, recalling stirring 50s scores.

Combining so many musicians and instruments has produced a dense work that rewards repeated listens. It’s full of laidback contemplative music made for lazy Sundays, recalling a time when jazz aimed for the astral plane.

Kindred Spirits | KS 021

Reviewed by Paul Bowler
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