AllMusic critic Richard S. Ginell called In Person "a defining album for Guaraldi in his natural habitat" (a jazz club setting), adding that the album captures the musician "at his most winning."[2]
Why It Matters blogger James Stafford cited In Person as capturing "the pianist in that brief moment when he was enjoying his first great national success with 'Cast Your Fate To the Wind' but hadn’t yet been transformed into a household name by Peanuts. It’s a beautiful record, filled with blues, bebop, and bossa nova, but for sheer plaster-a-smile-on-your-face delight nothing beats his take on the Mediterranean traditional song 'Misirlou'."[4]