In a review for
AllMusic, Brian Olewnick said, "the title track... is a wonderful, percussive evocation of pastoral Georgia, something along the lines of what the Art Ensemble of Chicago were doing around the same time, but without the satire and with a greater sense of serenity. As the flutes, reeds, voice, and piano enter, there is no idea of 'soloing'; instead, each contributes to the ongoing, evolving texture of the piece, creating a fabric that's as cohesive as it is unplanned. The remaining cut, 'Djinji's Corner,' is a bit more fleshed out, a little more 'traditional' in one way, though still quite unusual for the time. Again, a reference point might be Art Ensemble works from around the same time, here a mélange of free horns and intense percussion, with Jeanne Lee soaring over the top, mixing words and glossolalia... The effect is more eerie and spiritually infused than the preceding piece, with keening, bowed cymbals and deep pulses from the lower clarinet family. It gradually builds to something of a frenzy, but in an unforced manner that shows it to be merely another approach to the territory explored earlier.
Afternoon of a Georgia Faun is a lovely, inspired album, a key work in Marion Brown's oeuvre and a recording that belongs in any collection of contemporary jazz."
Robert Palmer, in an article for
The New York Times, wrote: "Brown initiated the music with minimal guidelines and the language which emerged — brief, condensed, overlapping statements, constantly changing textures as a kind of light/shade metaphor—parallels that of certain contemporary European compositions, Boulez's 'Le Marteau sans Maitre' for example... Of the two performances included, the title piece is the most successful. Wooden percussion instruments are employed by, all the participants and voices and various reeds gradually complicate their raindrop sounds. On 'Djinji's Corner' Brown uses several 'assistants,' whom he describes as 'not actually musicians, but people who have a sense of rhythm and melody,' and introduces the concept of station improvisation, in which the instruments are collected at several 'stations' in the studio and the players move from station to station, so that a phrase begun, on a horn may be finished on a percussion toy. There is a brief flurry of overblown saxophones and thrashing drums near the end, the only occurrence of this characteristic sound of freely improvised jazz." Writing for Between Sound and Space, Tyran Grillo stated: "Over 35 minutes we are treated to a distilled experience that jumps, flies, and slithers its way through a forest of sounds... The music is indeterminate and uncompromising and unleashes its full torrent only in the second movement, 'Djinji’s Corner.' Slide whistles, snares, and bass join in the cacophony... one begins to hear inklings of the space for which ECM would soon come to be known. It is also meticulously recorded. Every detail comes through... Describing the sound of this album is, I imagine, as difficult as it was to lay it down in the studio. The sheer range of implied space is impressive, made all the more so for its organic textures. A masterpiece of free jazz and well worth the chance for the adventurous listener." In an article for
The Bitter Southerner, Jon Ross wrote: "The title track on
Georgia Faun is not about the notes played or the facility of each performer; Brown didn't even pick up his saxophone during the 17-minute tune, but the ideas, the organization, and the feeling are his own. In fact, nearly all of the musicians on the record stayed away from their primary instruments. Brown played a zomari, a Tanzanian double reed instrument, and various forms of percussion; saxophonists Anthony Braxton and Bennie Maupin can be heard on wooden flutes, evoking birds and woodland life. The emotive quality of the sounds is paramount. Brown hewed to this concept throughout the trio of records...
Georgia Faun is a sound of recollection mixed with ancestral lineage. It's not nostalgia or a longing for 1930s Atlanta, but a re-creation of the feeling of the South." Author Bob Gluck suggested that
Afternoon of a Georgia Faun was an influence on the group
Circle, which featured both Corea and Braxton, as the recording took place shortly before Circle's first recording sessions on August 13, 19 and 21, 1970. Gluck wrote: "Calm and filled with evocative sense impressions, 'Georgia Faun' the tune shows Brown employing instruments and textural improvisations associated with the AACM. Braxton was thus an excellent choice to participate. For Corea, the recording was an opportunity to explore sonic possibilities in new ways, in tandem with Braxton as his new musical partner... Overall, the music is lush and evocative, presented with conviction by musicians sensitive to the nuance of open improvisation. The spare, textural qualities of the improvisation reflect the kind of heightened mutuality and sensitivity to sonic and gestural nuance characteristic of Circle in its finest moments." == Track listing ==