Allmusic’s Michael G. Nastos called the album “a most focused effort, a relatively popular session to both [Coltrane’s] fans or latecomers, with five selections that are brilliantly conceived and rendered.” He found Coltrane “simply masterful” on tenor saxophone with a “fully formed instrumental voice” that “shine[s] through in the most illuminating manner”, and wrote of the album’s standing in his catalog:
Even more than any platitudes one can heap on this extraordinary recording, it historically falls between the albums Olé Coltrane and Impressions — completing a triad of studio efforts that are as definitive as anything Coltrane ever produced, and highly representative of him in his prime.
Francis Davis of The Village Voice felt that, apart from the “modal, three-quarter time novelty hit” “The Inch Worm”, consumers should buy the album for “the gorgeous ‘Soul Eyes’ and a shattering ‘Out of This World’…read more.
Album Data
Released: July 1962
Recorded: April & June, 1962
Record Label: Impulse! Records
Location Recorded: Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey
Producer: Bob Thiele
Album Length: 39 min / 55 sec
Love this one… One of my favourite Coltrane albums…
Thanks for the comment and rating! This is indeed a great album!