Richard S. Ginell reviewed the reissue of the album for Allmusic and wrote that on the album O'Day was "served with a collection of brilliant, difficult big-band charts, courtesy of a 27-year-old emerging master named Gary McFarland who mixed instrumental voices and tempo changes in querulous, turbulent combinations" and highlighted "You Came a Long Way From St. Louis" as being "enlivened with sprouting shafts of outlaw muted brass and reeds". Ginell wrote that it was "...a tribute to O'Day's abilities that she makes it all sound easy, exhibiting a freedom in phrasing and improvising that is extraordinary even for her".
