The album peaked at number seventeen on Billboard's Jazz Albums chart.[1] The record is this trio’s successor to the 1968 classic Now He Sings, Now He Sobs and the precursor of their 1986 Trio Music, Live in Europe. The album was also issued as single CD edition.
In a review for AllMusic, Scott Yanow wrote: "The first half of this two-fer... is sometimes a touch lightweight even with moments of interest... However, the second album... comes across quite well as Corea does justice to the spirit of Monk without losing his own strong musical personality."[2]
Peter Marsh of the BBC stated: "ECM has always brought out the best in Corea, with the label's tendency towards introspection stripping away most of the fussiness and bombast that makes some of his other recordings a bit hard to stomach. The trio setting is a sympathetic frame for Corea's pianistic talents for much the same reasons."[6]
Writing for Between Sound and Space, Tyran Grillo commented: "Highly recommend for the lovely Monk set alone, but give the improvisations a chance, and you will surely find a wealth of colors to explore again and again."[7]