In a review for Down Beat, John Corbett points the BYG LPs that Blackwell recorded with Don Cherry as the main reference and states "Smith is much too strong an individualist to play anyone else's role, and while he has a definite multicultural orientation and clearly loves the raw sonic potential of the trumpet, you've never mistake him for Cherry.

On The Blue Mountain's Sun Drummer his radiant core sound, warm and projective, floats over Blackwell's impossibly relaxed drumming.

"[1] The All About Jazz review by Clifford Allen notes that "Smith's sense of orchestration has always seemed entirely different from Cherry's, whether in a solo or group context.

The phrasing of both sound and silence, ever natural, has always appeared utterly poised, pinched and cutting front-porch paeans to downriver ancestry wrapped into a massive, fluffed whole.

"[3] The JazzTimes review by Mike Shanley states "Wadada Leo Smith and Ed Blackwell play with passion and cohesion that makes any additional instruments unnecessary" and notes that "Smith and Blackwell were not regular collaborators, but by the way they sounded on this night, they clearly shared the same mindset.