"Work for two pianos is rare in any genre, but I've often wondered why it wasn't explored more in improvised music. I can think of only a few other examples and these are all one time encounters. Pianists Mark Hennen and Toby Kasavan have been working together for years and have reached a high level of interaction and expression. The work lakes full advantage of the expansive territory first opened by Cecil Taylor, but retains a control that allows for the inclusion of many different styles and gives precedence to thematic development over freedom of expression.  Included arc 12 compositions, each a unique and thoughtful exploration. This is exciting and innovative work. Recommended.The work takes full advantage of the expansive territory first opened by Cecil Taylor, but retains a control that allows for the inclusion of many different styles and gives precedence to thematic development over freedom of expression. Included are 12 compositions, each a unique and thoughtful exploration. This is exciting and innovative work. Recommended."

 - Jeremy Graham, Jazz Now

"The piano's theoretical capability of sounding 88 notes at once renders it’s use in the egalitarian world of free-improvisation a bit problematic. It can harmonically overwhelm any single line instrument that dares cross its path, hence, the piano-less ensembles common to the post-Ornette avant-garde. Pianists Hennen and Kasavan meet this problem of relative density head on, by doubling the instrument's capacity and embracing its potential for complexity. Theory of Everything is what it's title implies, a thorough examination of the piano's orchestral possibilities, twice multiplied. Most of the album's tunes adhere to some structure, retaining remnants of a thematic source, which might as easily be rhythmic or textural as melodic or harmonic. Mood predominates here; from the funky lyricism of "Shadow Matter" and the manic counterpoint of "Invisible Cities," to the spastic polytonality of "Befunko" or the free-jazz gospel of "Twice Mine," the original compositions rely heavily on approach and atmosphere. Both men are highly responsive to each other's lines, placing intricacy and sophistication in service to authentic emotion and strongly held ideals. Theory of Everything is a kinder, gentler avant-garde——free-music for people who don't think they like free-music."

- Chris Kelsey

- Jack Burke

"It's high time for another batch of pianists. This month's crop is heavy on notes — that is, they have an affinity for dense, thick textures Toby Kasavan and Mark Hennen, playing together, draw from the Romantic sturm und drang tradition. And boogie-woogie, And barrelhouse blues, and ragtime, and jazz. Then the duo feeds these jumbled roots a diet of postmodern music steroids, heavy on the angst and peppers it all with plenty of speed. Notes rip from the keys in cascades. Melodies blow in powerful gusts and gales."

"Kasavan and Hennen have been working together since the '70s, when Kasavan moved into a New York loft after leaving L.A. For all the whirling and frenetic energy of their music, Kasavan considers the logistics of performance a greater problem than accessibility. "There's something about the sound of the piano that makes what we do listenable.”

- Titus Levi, Discoveries / Keyboard Magazine

"Sometimes I think that New York's biggest problem might not be out-of-control crime or rampant drug abuse, but rather an overpopulation of Jazz musicians. Of course that's ridiculous but nevertheless, it does sometimes seem as if the city lacks an audience of the size necessary to support the untold numbers of artists trying to make it here. The scene is so dense with activity that a staggering number of brilliant musicians go unrecognized. Fortunately, like Jazz musicians everywhere, those here tend to be resilient and prone to laugh ironically and carry on stubbornly in the face of rejection. The music's continued existence and good health are evidence enough of that."
    
"Pianists Mark Hennen and Toby Kasavan are two of those lesser known, yet prodigiously talented musicians whose skill far exceed their relatively low profiles.  Their duo concert at Manhattan's Saint Peter's Church in early May was as fine an example of free Jazz piano, as one is likely to hear in New York or anywhere else."

"The nonliteral nature of musical communication allows an understanding deeper than thought between these two artists. Each speaks with his own voice within the language of sound, accommodating but distinct from the other. One of the virtues of free improvisation is that it allows the individual to transcend the limitations of a preexisting vocabulary. Hennen and Kasavan seize upon that freedom to create a disciplined and coherent yet wildly spontaneous and inventive music.   The pair's original compositions were skeletal, as free Jazz tunes lend to be, with the emphasis on general moods and textures rather than specific notes and rhythms The duo's split-second reactions to each other's statements are evidence of an aspect of music that can't be taught, namely the ability to assimilate information quickly and respond instantaneously. Both players had this quality in abundance, as they proved continually throughout the evening. For instance, in their opening number, the aptly tilled "Shadow Matter," the improvisation of one was a virtual mirror of the other. The line between the composed and the improvised was most often blurred beyond distinction because the roughly hewn tunes served as springboards for the two men's considerable imaginations."

"Kasavan is possibly more tonally grounded and chordal in execution, and Hennen is a bit freer harmonically and has a more linear style in both hands. Both players changed and evolved within the music, taking the initiative and laying back when appropriate."

"Bowing to tradition, the pair dismembered "Body and Soul" in a deliciously subversive reading of the old Jazz warhorse. Their version of the hymn "I Don't Feel No-Ways Tired" brought the pianists' modem sensibilities to bear on a gospel music classic. The duo's dense harmonies, laid the song's ecclesiastical rhythms, added layers of meaning to what is already an intrinsically spiritual music. It's unfortunate that musicians of this quality are not known to a wider audience. Artists like Hennen and Kasavan are doing their thing in New York right under the very noses of just about every record label exec in the Western world, yet they remain virtually unrecorded by anyone except themselves. It's to their credit that they persevere in the face of such adversity. For now, originality is greatly undervalued in our culture. It will take an extraordinary effort on the part of us all if that is to change any time soon. Until then, people like Hennen and Kasavan will continue to put out great art. It's there for the taking; all we have to do is listen."

- Chris Kelsey, Jazz Now