Encounters

Original music from guitarist/composer Jaiman Crunk is provided on Encounters, a large scale production recorded over nearly a two-year period. Crunk?s arrangements of his own music utilize both larger ensembles of over twenty musicians and smaller groups of from two to six performers. The larger group, made up of rhythm section plus brass, winds, and strings, is heard on ?Spuren,? ?Beneath a Leaf,? and ?Let Me Slip Into Your Dreams Tonight,? the latter also featuring the vocal group Take 6. These three orchestral pieces have an ethereal and remote quality, with Crunk?s guitar solos effective in capturing this quality and helpful in providing clarification to the music. ?She Stepped Away? is notable among the smaller ensemble performances, with an interesting line and solos from a sextet featuring Randy Brecker on trumpet and Ada Rovatti on tenor. Another of the small group selections is the excellent duo performance by Crunk and pianist Bill Anschell on ?What You Know,? one of several interesting musical encounters between Crunk and the many outstanding musicians on this recording.