[4] Recording sessions for the album took place on October 8 and 9, 1959, in New York City.

Each player is free to contribute what he feels in the music at any given moment... our final results depend entirely on the musicianship, emotional make-up and taste of the individual member.

"[12] AllMusic's Steve Huey stated that the album showcases "a group that was growing ever more confident in its revolutionary approach and the chemistry in the bandmembers' interplay," and remarked: "Coleman was hitting his stride and finally letting out all the ideas and emotions that had previously been constrained by tradition.

That vitality makes it an absolutely essential purchase and... some of the most brilliant work of Coleman's career.

"[8] C. Michael Bailey, writing for All About Jazz, called the title track "a wild phantasm of notes that are to 'free jazz' what trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie's 'Bebop' was for that virtuosic genre," and commented: "finally things are really beginning to come apart at the seams... Coleman has fully gained his traction and is now ready.