Niland concluded: "While the music on this disc must have come as something of a shock to those who were unprepared for it, listening in historical context reveals it to be an excellent example of the rapidly evolving state of jazz in the mid 1960's by two of its most well known practitioners.

"[6] In a review for JazzTimes, Mac Randall wrote: "The classic Coltrane quartet was about to split when they played the '65 Newport Festival, and you can kinda tell; the leader is clearly aiming for something that his bandmates can't quite see.

And yet the music they make together still packs a major emotional punch... A lot of people didn't like the 'new thing' that Trane and Shepp were offering here.

"[7] Writing for All About Jazz, Derek Taylor stated that Coltrane's quartet "works up a lengthy lather on 'One Down, One Up' before launching into a burning rundown of 'My Favorite Things.'

Compared to other concert recordings by the quartet the first piece is just below par, though there's still plenty of incendiary fireworks ignited by the four... Coltrane's upper register tenor solo becomes so frenetic on 'One Down, One Up' that there are moments where he moves off mic, but his soprano work on 'My Favorite Things' is nothing short of astonishing, a blur of swirling harmonics that threatens split his horn asunder."