(Ethnic / Contemporary Instrumental) Night Ark - Discography (4 CDs 1986 - 1999), FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Night Ark is an instrumental quartet led by Ara Dinkjian, an American of Armenian descent. The ensemble blends the sounds of the Middle East with elements of rock, pop, jazz, and classical forms of music. The group came together in 1986 after Steve Backer, a producer for RCA, heard a demo of one of Dinkjian's original compositions and promptly issued an invitation to record. After pulling together the quartet, Dinkjian and his crew recorded the albums Moments and Picture. Night Ark next inked a deal with Polygram, which put out the albums In Wonderland and Petals on Your Path. The ensemble has played to sold-out houses in the Middle East and Europe. It has appeared at the Israel Festival, the Yerevan International Jazz Festival, and the Istanbul Jazz Festival. The group's songs utilize such traditional instruments as the saz, the zither, the oud, and the cumbus.
Dinkjian is ranked among the premiere oud players in the world. He was raised on the sounds of jazz, pop, and the music of Armenia. At Connecticut's Hartt College of Music, he earned the first degree granted there in the oud while studying theory and composition. Night Ark also includes Arto Tunçboyacıyan on percussion. He was born in Turkey of Armenian descent, and has worked with such artists as Al DiMeola and Joe Zawinul. Armen Donelian, who is also of Armenian heritage and has worked with Mango Santamaria and Sonny Rollins, plays piano for the group. Rounding out the quartet is Marc Johnson, who previously worked with Stan Getz, Pat Metheny, and Bill Evans, among others.
~ Linda Seida, All Music Guide

Picture is the recording debut of the quartet Night Ark, led by oud player Ara Dinkjian, who wrote most of the compositions and also plays canoon, cumbus, and Portuguese mandolin. This difficult-to-classify music was often filed under new age, though it was a bit too sophisticated for that label, and, as a result, the label probably had trouble promoting it to radio stations and critics. The leader's unusual interpretation of the Beatles' "Blackbird" opens with unaccompanied percussion and a brief, improvised oud solo before introducing its theme. Dinkjian's strongest compositions, including the lyrical opener "Trees" and the exotic extended suite "Of Song and Silence," feature piano rather than the DX7, which doesn't fit in with the otherwise all-acoustic sound of the group. Night Ark would only make one more recording for Novus before entering a long period of inactivity in the studio before their one-shot effort for Emarcy was recorded a decade following their debut; this long-out-of-print CD may be somewhat difficult to locate.
~ Ken Dryden

Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 4 from 23. January 2008
EAC extraction logfile from 12. October 2008, 19:57
Night Ark / Picture
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Read mode : Secure
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Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Installed external ASPI interface
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
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Command line compressor : C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\FLAC\FLAC.EXE
Additional command line options : -6 -V -T "ARTIST=%a" -T "TITLE=%t" -T "ALBUM=%g" -T "DATE=%y" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%n" -T "GENRE=%m" -T "COMMENT=%e" %s -o %d
TOC of the extracted CD
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Range status and errors
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Peak level 84.1 %
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Test CRC 56070CDC
Copy CRC 56070CDC
Copy OK
No errors occurred
AccurateRip summary
Track 1 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 1) [F50B9E4D], AccurateRip returned [2598C5C4]
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Track 7 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 1) [5BC6CF15], AccurateRip returned [0FE213CC]
No tracks could be verified as accurate
You may have a different pressing from the one(s) in the database
End of status report

Night Ark is a group that draws from so many fields of music it proves difficult to label. Many (but not all) of the instruments featured on this release originated in the Middle East; leader Ara Dinkjian's specialty is the oud, but he also occasionally plays guitar and piano, along with the less-familiar canoon and cumbus. The music includes exotic originals by the group, each of which merits repeated listening. The most accessible cuts will include a relatively straightforward but imaginative treatment of Carole King's pop hit "You've Got a Friend" and a captivating arrangement of the old standard "Over the Rainbow," which is highlighted by Dinkjian's sterling improvised solo introduction on oud. Long out of print, this CD is worth acquiring, though it is far too sophisticated to be labeled new age, which is the section where it is likely to be found.
~ Ken Dryden

Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 4 from 23. January 2008
EAC extraction logfile from 12. October 2008, 19:19
Night Ark / Moments
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Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
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Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Installed external ASPI interface
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 1024 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\FLAC\FLAC.EXE
Additional command line options : -6 -V -T "ARTIST=%a" -T "TITLE=%t" -T "ALBUM=%g" -T "DATE=%y" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%n" -T "GENRE=%m" -T "COMMENT=%e" %s -o %d
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Range status and errors
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Peak level 99.4 %
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Test CRC B5B5E578
Copy CRC B5B5E578
Copy OK
No errors occurred
AccurateRip summary
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None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database
End of status report

Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 4 from 23. January 2008
EAC extraction logfile from 12. October 2008, 19:37
Night Ark / In Wonderland
Used drive : TSSTcorpCD/DVDW SH-S182M Adapter: 2 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Installed external ASPI interface
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
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Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\FLAC\FLAC.EXE
Additional command line options : -6 -V -T "ARTIST=%a" -T "TITLE=%t" -T "ALBUM=%g" -T "DATE=%y" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%n" -T "GENRE=%m" -T "COMMENT=%e" %s -o %d
TOC of the extracted CD
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9 | 41:38.45 | 4:58.47 | 187395 | 209791
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Range status and errors
Selected range
Filename C:\z\Night Ark - In Wonderland.wav
Peak level 99.9 %
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC E0B28CA4
Copy CRC E0B28CA4
Copy OK
No errors occurred
AccurateRip summary
Track 1 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [259432D9]
Track 2 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [FAA36AA5]
Track 3 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [B448919F]
Track 4 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [72528DA4]
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Track 7 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [77BF7028]
Track 8 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [69422644]
Track 9 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [8DD44989]
Track 10 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [B1333B6A]
All tracks accurately ripped
End of status report

Night Ark consists of four New-York-based jazz musicians, three of whom are of Armenian descent. While Petals On Your Path's first (and title track) is a perfectly formed piece of light, sweet Jazz FM fare--an unchallenging joy to listen to--the rest of the album sees the quartet explore their ethnic musical roots. On some tracks this is brought out through Ara Dinkjian's oud. Dinkjian, who is also the group's main composer, has a very clean approachable style of playing, weaving his instrument's native tones and tunings into more traditional and accessible jazz formats to intoxicating effect--the oud's answer to Pat Metheney. The highlights, though, are provided by the vocal excursions of percussionist Arto Tunçboyacıyan. Although obviously something of a flamboyant showman, Tunçboyacıyan's traditional singing style is irresistible, a romanticised, humanised version of Les Voix Bulgares, plaintively full of the exoticism of a homeland that's far away. A very special album.
~ Robert Heller

Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 4 from 23. January 2008
EAC extraction logfile from 12. October 2008, 19:00
Night Ark / Petals On Your Path
Used drive : TSSTcorpCD/DVDW SH-S182M Adapter: 2 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Installed external ASPI interface
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 1024 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\FLAC\FLAC.EXE
Additional command line options : -6 -V -T "ARTIST=%a" -T "TITLE=%t" -T "ALBUM=%g" -T "DATE=%y" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%n" -T "GENRE=%m" -T "COMMENT=%e" %s -o %d
TOC of the extracted CD
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Range status and errors
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Filename C:\z\Night Ark - Petals On Your Path.wav
Peak level 94.3 %
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 4F540AE8
Copy CRC 4F540AE8
Copy OK
No errors occurred
AccurateRip summary
Track 1 not present in database
Track 2 not present in database
Track 3 not present in database
Track 4 not present in database
Track 5 not present in database
Track 6 not present in database
Track 7 not present in database
Track 8 not present in database
Track 9 not present in database
Track 10 not present in database
Track 11 not present in database
None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database
End of status report