The Allmusic review by David R. Adler awarded the album 3 stars and stated "This batch of compositions is informed by Bley's distinctive brand of tongue-in-cheek playfulness... While the entire eight-piece band is consistently a pleasure, some of the album's most appealing moments occur during several Bley/Swallow duet passages. The two have been performing and recording as a duo for many years, so in a certain sense the whole band seems to revolve around them".[3] The JazzTimes review by Aaron Steinberg said "Between gigs, the ruddy and no doubt road weary outfit took a time-out in Oslo to record 4 x 4. Bley and the band sound happy to have the time to themselves, and they mostly take it easy on light-hearted tunes with fun but simple arrangements".[4] The Penguin Guide to Jazz awarded it 3+1⁄2 stars stating "with music as impressive and as ambitious as this, who's complaining? "[5]
All tracks are written by Carla Bley
Title |
---|
1. | "Blues in 12 Bars / Blues in 12 Other Bars" | 14:32 |
---|
2. | "Sidewinders in Paradise" | 8:36 |
---|
3. | "Les Trois Lagons (d'apres Henri Matisse): Plate XVII/Plate XVIII/Plate XIX" | 15:37 |
---|
4. | "Baseball" | 7:48 |
---|
5. | "Útviklingssang" | 9:18 |
---|
- Recorded at Rainbow Studio, Oslo in July 1999.