The album was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of best jazz performance, small group.[6] It reached No. 1 on Billboard's jazz album chart, No. 2 on the R&B chart,[7] and No. 29 on the LP chart.[8][9]
A Billboard writer commented in 2006 that "what put Montreux on the recorded-live-in-concert map was the legendary Swiss Movement album".[10] Writing in AllMusic, Richie Unterberger calls Swiss Movement "one of the most popular soul jazz albums of all time, and one of the best."[4]
The tapes of this impromptu concert were originally recorded by the festival's organisers and then passed on to Atlantic, who decided to release them after paying a fee of less than $100.[11]
McCann and Harris teamed up again for a follow-up recording, Second Movement, released in 1971.[12]
^"'Swiss Movement' Grammy Nominee" (March 13, 1971) Billboard. p. 4.
^Goldmark, Daniel (2012) In "Slightly Left of Center": Atlantic Records and the Problems of Genre. In Ake, David Andrew; Garrett, Charles Hiroshi; Goldmark, Daniel "Jazz/Not Jazz: The Music and Its Boundaries". University of California Press. p. 165.
^"Billboard Top LP's". (February 28, 1970) Billboard. p. 70.
^Whitburn, Joel (1991) "The Billboard Book of Top 40 Albums". Billboard Books. p. 119.
^Ouellette, Dan (June 3, 2006) "On the Record". Billboard. p. 36.
Years given are for the recording(s), not first release, except where noted. As Les McCann Ltd is often used in the titles for the albums up to 1964, this has been omitted.