Complete Example
Miles Davis — In A Silent Way (1969). A real ARK package demonstrating every feature.
{
"$schema": "https://ark.format/schema/v1/manifest.json",
"ark_version": "1.0",
"work": {
"type": "album",
"title": "In A Silent Way",
"creators": [
{
"name": "Miles Davis",
"role": "artist",
"identifiers": {
"isni": "0000000114598529",
"musicbrainz": "561d854a-6a28-4aa7-8c99-323e6ce46c2a"
}
}
],
"release_date": "1969-07-30",
"genres": ["Jazz", "Fusion", "Jazz-Rock"],
"identifiers": {
"upc": "074646987520",
"catalog_number": "CS 9875",
"musicbrainz": "78a1b0e7-26df-4be4-a316-9e11e2e60ed9"
},
"duration": "PT38M07S"
},
"contents": {
"type": "ordered",
"items": [
{
"number": 1,
"title": "Shhh/Peaceful",
"duration": "PT18M17S",
"files": {
"lossless-hires": "media/audio/lossless-hires/01-shhh-peaceful.flac",
"lossless": "media/audio/lossless/01-shhh-peaceful.flac",
"standard": "media/audio/standard/01-shhh-peaceful.mp3"
}
},
{
"number": 2,
"title": "In A Silent Way/It's About That Time",
"duration": "PT19M50S",
"files": {
"lossless-hires": "media/audio/lossless-hires/02-in-a-silent-way.flac",
"lossless": "media/audio/lossless/02-in-a-silent-way.flac",
"standard": "media/audio/standard/02-in-a-silent-way.mp3"
}
}
]
},
"artwork": {
"cover": {
"file": "artwork/cover.jpg",
"dimensions": { "width": 770, "height": 770 }
}
},
"text": {
"notes": "text/notes.md",
"credits": "text/credits.md"
},
"extensions": {
"https://ark.format/ns/music": {
"recording_date": "1969-02-18",
"recording_location": {
"studio": "CBS 30th Street Studio",
"city": "New York City"
},
"personnel": [
{ "name": "Miles Davis", "instrument": "trumpet" },
{ "name": "Wayne Shorter", "instrument": "soprano saxophone" },
{ "name": "John McLaughlin", "instrument": "electric guitar" },
{ "name": "Herbie Hancock", "instrument": "electric piano" },
{ "name": "Chick Corea", "instrument": "electric piano" },
{ "name": "Joe Zawinul", "instrument": "organ" },
{ "name": "Dave Holland", "instrument": "bass" },
{ "name": "Tony Williams", "instrument": "drums" }
]
}
}
}
From the liner notes (10,800 words):
On a cold Tuesday in February 1969, eight musicians gathered in a converted church on East 30th Street in Manhattan. By the end of a single three-hour session, they would record an album that fundamentally altered the trajectory of jazz music.
"In A Silent Way" represents one of those rare moments in music history when an artist, already legendary, chooses to abandon everything that made them famous in pursuit of something entirely new...
The session that produced "In A Silent Way" was unconventional from the start. Miles Davis had assembled an unprecedented ensemble: three electric keyboards, electric guitar, acoustic bass, and drums. The instrumentation alone signaled a departure from jazz orthodoxy...
Read the full 10,800-word essay in the package:
text/notes.md
Personnel
Miles Davis — trumpet, leader
Wayne Shorter — soprano saxophone
John McLaughlin — electric guitar
Herbie Hancock — electric piano (Fender Rhodes)
Chick Corea — electric piano (Fender Rhodes)
Joe Zawinul — organ (Hammond)
Dave Holland — acoustic bass
Tony Williams — drums
Production
Produced by Teo Macero
Engineered by Stan Tonkel
Recorded February 18, 1969
CBS 30th Street Studio, New York City
Awards
Grammy Hall of Fame (2001)
Track 1: Shhh/Peaceful (18:17)
The opening track begins with Tony Williams's hi-hat creating a gentle pulse—not the explosive polyrhythms he was known for, but something approaching a heartbeat...
Joe Zawinul's organ provides a bed of sustained tones, while the two Fender Rhodes players—Hancock and Corea—create interlocking patterns that shimmer like light on water...
Track 2: In A Silent Way / It's About That Time (19:50)
The title track showcases Joe Zawinul's gorgeous melody—the only non-Davis composition Miles ever featured so prominently...
John McLaughlin's guitar weaves through the texture, his British art-school sensibility meeting American jazz intuition. His tremolo-picked lines create halos around Davis's trumpet...
Full track-by-track notes in:
text/chapters/01.md and text/chapters/02.md