[6] The album was the second part of a five-part series on Black history, titled Roots and Folklore: Episodes in the Development of American Folk Music.

[10][11] Robert Christgau wrote that "this ain't jazz, it's modern chamber music, quite European in view of its ostensible subject.

"[12] The New York Times called the album "a powerful jazz composition in its own right and an ideal setting for the composer's hard-edged, penetrating clarinet improvisations.

"[15] The Gazette noted that it "is not easy listening," writing that "Carter's compositions are closer to the European brand of improvised jazz, without the rhythmic and harmonic convention usually associated with the music.

"[16] The Los Angeles Times determined that Carter demonstrates "his amazing facility for jumping from one register to another with an ease that seems to extend the [clarinet]'s naturally capacious range.