The Allmusic review by Jim Todd awarded the album 1½ stars stating "This 1968 LP from the early days of jazz fusion lacks the seamless merging of styles that would mark the commercial success of Tom Scott's later career. Instead, the 19-year-old reed player and the members of his quartet careen all over the style map – with varying degrees of success... At the time of this recording, Scott was already a fixture of the Los Angeles studio scene. As he makes clear on Rural Still Life, jazz was – and would remain – a side interest only".[1]
