[1][2][7] It features Dolphy in a quartet with bassists Ron Carter (here playing cello) and George Duvivier, and drummer Roy Haynes.

The album also features three covers, "Eclipse" by Mingus, "Sketch of Melba" by Randy Weston and "Feathers" by Hale Smith.

The contemporaneous DownBeat reviewer identified an improvement in Dolphy's bass clarinet playing and described him as "one of the few uncliched flute players in jazz".

While Out There is neither the compositional masterwork of Out to Lunch or the improvisational firestorm of the Five Spot sessions with Booker Little of the following year, it's nevertheless a worthy record of one of the most innovative jazz musicians ever to have walked the planet.

"[11] Writing for PopMatters, Will Layman called the album "a dream come true", and noted how Dolphy and Carter are "free to explore harmony above the minimal barriers of George Duvivier's bass lines and Roy Haynes' snap-crackle-pop stick work."