[5] Coltrane and Adderley sit out for this track, and Evans, "ruminating moodily," takes an extended solo, "conjuring magical colors out of the resident 'honky-tonk'" piano.

On "Straight, No Chaser," Davis plays the theme faster than usual and alternates the groove between full and cut time, while Evans quotes "Blue Monk" in his own solo.

[5] The original LP misidentified the tune "Straight, No Chaser" as "Jazz at the Plaza," the drummer as Philly Joe Jones, and the location as the Edwardian Room.

[7] AllMusic's Thom Jurek felt that, despite Sony's remastering, it "succeeds mightily on the level" of a "remarkable" band's "fine performance."

"[5] In its four-star review of the album, DownBeat found the music "engaging" and stated, "The intrigue from the redefined hard-bop here has everything to do with Davis' elliptical phrasings and seeming impatience with the latter-day offspring of bebop.