The first boogie-woogie tryouts laid a foundation for the blues and jazz to come. By the end of the seventies he had fully switched to the piano and took classical music lessons from a piano teacher that also taught "light music". At the end of this classical period Bart joined a preparation class for the jazz conservatory, since he was now spending more and more time on his jazz explorations. The first half of the eighties Bart founded several jazz groups, Unit4, Sujazztion, Trio Triceps and joined the local jazz scene in Eindhoven. He decided not to go to the conservatory, but to look for 4th or 5th year conservatory (jazz piano) students to take lessons from and succeeded. Theory and practice were secured and joined together. By 1989 he co-founded the Sonic Blast Big Band Eindhoven and joined a master class with Louis van Dijk at the Music School Eindhoven. The early nineties were full of Jazz activities. Bart joined the Heidy Crooymans Trio, founded the Jazz Quintet Lift-Off and the Sextet Intersection, got busy with the Sonic Blast Big Band (studio recordings, Tros Sesjun Big Band Festival, to name some high lights) and developed a more firm plan to form his own Jazz Trio.

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