The
AllMusic review by Dean McFarlane stated: "Exploring the jazz language and improvisation in such an oblique manner, the recording bears many similarities to the work of avant-garde jazz composer
Anthony Braxton. An interesting recording yet by no means a representation of the ecstatic peaks Leroy Jenkins was capable of achieving as a free jazz soloist". The authors of
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings awarded the album 3½ stars, calling it "a foretaste of the classical configurations that were to come," and commented: "Some of the titles might sound restrainedly formal... but none... is a merely abstract etude or exercise, and all of them have Jenkins's trademark blend of intense expression and admirable control." They praised the wind players, calling them "masters in their own right," and singled out Ehrlich as "revelatory, a player as strongly rooted in classic jazz as he is in European art music." ==Track listing==