the allmusic site's the review by ken dryden stated, "clifford jordan's two volumes of sessions under the title "glass bead games" have long been heralded as some of the most important work of his career". writing for all about jazz, samuel chell enthused "to call the playing "remarkable" is to do it an injustice: rather, it's exemplary as a record of one instance of tapping into and then realizing the potential of the vast energy field that is human consciousness".