The Allmusic review by Thom Jurek awarded the album 4 stars, stating: "While it's easy to argue that, with Manfred Eicher's icy, crystalline production, this was a stock date for both the artists and the label, that argument would be flat wrong. Bley was looking for a new lyricism in his own playing and in his compositions. He was coming from a different place than the large harmonies offered by augmented and suspended chords and writing for piano trios. The other band members -- two other extremely lyrical improvisers in Surman and Frisell (who prized understatement as the veritable doorway to lyricism) and a drummer who was better known for his dancing through rhythms than playing them in Motian -- were the perfect foils."[2]The Penguin Guide to Jazz said "The long "Interplay" on the latter, eponymous set, is disappointing enough to ease that album back a stellar notch".[3]
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