[1] On the album, Workman is heard in a variety of instrumental combinations, in groups featuring multi-instrumentalist Sam Rivers, trombonist Julian Priester, pianist Geri Allen, harpist Elizabeth Panzer, drummers Al Foster and Gerry Hemingway, and tabla player Tapan Modak.

[2] A reviewer for DownBeat awarded the album 4 stars and stated: "Workman... explores a world apart from any genre's idioms... this entire team of spelunkers digs where we've seldom gone before, flooding dark chambers with their flashes of brilliance.

What Workman brings to light on Cerebral Caverns is fantastically rare and rewards repeated listening.

"[4] The authors of The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings called Cerebral Caverns and Summit Conference "cracking records made by top-flight players," and praised Geri Allen's playing, commenting that she is "always better on other people's dates... she's called on to do the sort of high-intensity stuff that Marilyn Crispell brought to previous Workman groups.

"[3] Nicky Baxter, writing for Metroactive, remarked: "the spirit of community and mutual admiration is fully evident... this session reveals the bassist's attraction to the new.