"[5] AAJ's Dan McClenaghan called the album "an innovative free-jazz outing," and stated that it "presents a free-end-of-the spectrum sound that breaks new ground while maintaining its grip on a late-fifties/mid-sixties foundation of flexibility.

"[7] Writing for Point of Departure, Ed Hazell remarked: "The all-star OGJB Quartet... plays urgent and passionate music with calm authority and assurance... Every element of this masterful album contributes to that feeling of inevitability and surprise that is the hallmark of great jazz.

"[10] In an article for The Arts Fuse, Steve Feeney called Bamako "an impressive album that looks backward and forward in time while staying in the vital present moment," noting "just how much fun it is to hear how these veterans try to think in new ways — as they do throughout this engaging release.

"[11] Exposé Online's Jon Davis stated: "Bamako is proof that Free Jazz has many facets, and some of them are quite engaging, and also that harking back to the years on either side of 1970 needn’t be tedious or hackneyed.

"[13] Filipe Freitas of Jazz Trail stated that the musicians "all contribute compositions, work dynamics with diligence, and push their personal views into ecstatic realms where nothing feels too soft or too labored... Bamako boasts an excellent and varied repertoire that exalts the genre.