Hakan Baar, already has almost everything to become a major player in jazz in the coming years… Luca Conti editor of Musica Jazz, liner notes.

His repertoire has been shaped, in no small part, by his extensive listening habits. So many of his influences make an appearance on this album through pieces of their own composition: Petrucciani, Peterson, Strayhorn, Walton, Tyner, and even a non-pianist like Wes Montgomery. However, further listening ends up revealing additional equally or more indicative inspirations, notably Chick Corea and Ahmad Jamal. All this material is tackled by Baar and his bandmates Michelangelo Scandroglio and Bernardo Guerra – both of whom it is an unusual pleasure to see engaged in a, shall we say, more mainstream repertoire and getting away with it – with a truly surprising flair: these are strongly purposeful performances that immediately impose their presence without getting lost in vain babble or idle turns waitin