Wake Up and Live!

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[11]
Chicago Tribune	[12]
MusicHound Blues: The Essential Album Guide	[13]
The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings	[10]
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette	[14]
The Vancouver Sun	[15]

The Chicago Tribune noted that, "unlike some of the bland revivalists now exploiting [jump blues], Dixon helped to develop the idiom, and his supple piano style and infectious vocals render this set irresistible."^[12] The Vancouver Sun stated that Dixon "plays the jazz-blues of the 1950s, with his piano and vocals leading the way, acoustic bass providing the bottom and, on most tracks, a horn section kicking in for the ride."^[15] The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel listed Wake Up and Live! among the 10 best blues albums of 1996, writing that "his slow songs, such as 'My Song Is Don't Worry', have a believable desperation."^[16] The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette determined that the album "shows how alive and vital the music remains."^[14] The Ithaca Journal considered it the sixth best album of 1996.^[17]

AllMusic wrote that Dixon's "voice had not aged much, his enthusiasm is very much intact and his piano playing (whether on slow blues, medium-tempo novelties or the closing instrumental blues 'Gettin' Ready') is quite jazz-oriented."^[11]