The Los Angeles Times reviewer was sharply critical of the film's script and pacing, but praised Davis' performance. Bosley Crowther, in The New York Times wrote: "The picture fails, although it tries hard and, in some ways, admirably". He praised it for the prominent roles cast with black performers. "The best single moment occurs when Mr. Davis and young Frank Sinatra Jr., as his protégé, aim their trumpets straight up at a cheering balcony in a segregated theater", Crowther wrote. The Newsweek reviewer commented: "it spends its good intentions on hollow caricatures and tries to mix the standard ingredients of a jazz picture with social significance and drug-store psychiatry."
