The three protagonists for the album – composer and arranger Patrick Zimmerli, and pianists Brad Mehldau and Kevin Hays – were friends.

[1] Mehldau was already known for mixing elements from forms of music other than jazz into his performances, and Hays had more recently extended "from his signature, intelligent, hard swinging post-bop approach to include compositions with modern classical touches".

[1] The three Zimmerli pieces have "busy palettes, intricate cross-keyboard dialogues, and contrapuntal studies".

[2] The AllMusic reviewer concluded that "it's not a jazz album, but one in which new considerations of harmonic composition and intra-instrument dialogue are readily apparent and delivered upon with discipline as well as verve".

[1] The Financial Times reviewer commented on the two pianists' awareness of what they were doing together and the positive impact of the structure of their playing.