In a review for Jazz Times, Chris Kelsey wrote, "The man who invented free-jazz drumming some five decades ago remains as committed and uncompromising-and as ineffably great-as ever....". He noted that Murray's "timbral and dynamic insights are unsurpassed among jazz percussionists. His imagination is vast, certainly-he comes at you with an unceasing flow of ideas-but what sets him apart is his total immersion in the task at hand. He gets so deep inside the music: painting rhythms around melody, inciting and elaborating. No drummer is more spontaneously inventive. None plays with a greater depth of feeling." He concluded, "These albums are evidence... that when it comes to free-jazz drummers, he who wrote the book still gets the last word."[8]
Bill Shoemaker, writing for Point of Departure, commented, "Sunny Murray's sound of breaking glass is still shattering what passed as conventional jazz wisdom over 40 years ago... Murray not only demonstrates that he can still crash and bang with abandon, but that he can also sharpen his idiosyncratic musicality to surprisingly fine points. Subsequently, these recordings buttress the assertion that Murray is the most original stylist since Kenny Clarke."[9]
The authors of the Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings wrote that, on Volume 1's three-part "Fox Hunting in Manhattan", there is "gunpowder in the air", with Murray playing quietly but "with a constant threat lying below the surface". They described "Top Dogs Boogie" as "a career highlight and an ideal place to study Murray's close attention to horn lines". Volume 2's "Changing Times" was depicted as "show[ing] off Murray's gift for working with piano-players... taking keyboard phrases and blending them to his own idiom".[7]
Writer Brian Morton remarked: "Much has been said in even more recent times about how happy & chilled Sunny is in Europe... The same spirit infuses much of the music on these... dates." He noted that although pianist Blum "fits in beautifully," saxophonist Thomas "sounds awkward."[10]
Critic Tom Hull awarded the album an "Honorable Mention" in his seventh Jazz Consumer Guide, and wrote: "Free ranging drums, Sabir Mateen's struggling sax, guests -- Dave Burrell gives Vol. I a slight edge, but Vol. 2 is comparable."[11]
A writer for Forced Exposure stated that the album "is full of fire and surprise, ornery as hell, charming and urbane, and totally, unstintingly true to [Murray's] free-spirited aesthetic."[12]
