If you open the packaging for this album, you'll encounter a picture of Christopher Zuar that initially seems to touch on a theme of isolation. Shadows and light play against the wall behind him, but it's Zuar himself, sitting and staring into the distance over his piano, that really draws the eyes in. After looking at the photo for several moments, the pixels, forming a black and white visual cipher, finally choose to reveal the truth: This isn't a portrait of solitary existence so much as it is a visual representation of musing on what exists beyond the known. That's where Zuar is looking, and he makes some startlingly fresh discoveries by going there on this, his debut album.

Zuar hasn't even turned thirty yet—he was only twenty-seven when this album was recorded in September of 2014—but the knowledge, skill, and depth of feeling that appear in his writing belie his years. This music, artfully crafted and expertly rendered by a forward-thinking jazz orchestra, manages to harness and refract the sounds of struggle, hope, affirmation, humor, and youth. These are pieces shot through with pensive streaks and bold declamations, pointing to emotional balance and a sonic yin and yang at play in Zuar's pen.

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