In a review for AllMusic, Ron Wynn called the album "a steady, often very good hard-blowing and blues date."[4]
The authors of The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings wrote: "Harden's warm, unemphatic trumpet-playing is perfectly appropriate to the setting, and it rarely attempts anything that will scare the horses."[5]
A reviewer for the Record Mirror commented: "Talk of Coltrane being 'anti-jazz' must be dispelled by this little lot."[6]
Tremr's Charlie Wooley described Bahia as "an enjoyable listen," and stated that it "proves that Coltrane manages to be thoroughly entertaining, even at some of his weakest, most traditional moments. It reminds listeners once again that he excels at tackling a huge variety of styles."[3]
