Welcome to Love
In his review for AllMusic, Steve Loewy commented: "This performance has held up well through the years, and while the thin, reserved approach is reminiscent of Coltrane, it is still marked with Pharoah's print".[2] The authors of The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings called the album "elaborate," and stated that "much of the credit has to go to... Wainwright, who... certainly can't be short of work playing as he does."[3] Marc Myers of All About Jazz described the recording as "one of Sanders' finest albums from his re-thinking period," and wrote that it is "an ideal introduction to Sanders and a stepping-stone to the saxophonist's more inventive, spiritual pieces."[6] Jazz Fuel's Matt Fripp included the album in his selection of "Ten Iconic Pharoah Sanders Albums," and commented: "The playing is supremely mature and shows a deep understanding and appreciation of the material.On the surface and in comparison to his earlier releases, Sanders might, on casual glance, appear to have become entrenched in a kind of conservative, nostalgic reverie to a by-gone age, but deeper listening reveals beautiful, melodic music making by all involved here.