The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 3 stars stating, "The main selection, the 21-minute "Death and the Flower," develops logically from atmospheric sounds to intense group improvising and back again; it is the main reason to acquire this [recording].".[2]
Writing for the now defunct jazz magazine Jazz.com, in 2008 Ted Gioia gave the title track "Death and the Flower" a 97/100 rating and praised it:[6]
Keith Jarrett delighted in subverting the familiar conventions of the piano-led jazz band with his early 1970s combo work. He relied on Redman and Haden, fire tested in the school of Ornette, who didn't really need chords from the keyboard to guide their musical journeys. And sometimes Jarrett would step away from the piano himself. The instrument does not even appear until some six minutes into this track. Instead we have a delicate web of percussion underpinning wood flute, and eventually Haden's bass enters throbbing like a slow heartbeat. But Jarrett's solo, when it arrives, is worth the wait. His touch and melodic inventiveness are shown off to good effect. Tone control, always one of his strengths, is especially evident here, with Motian and Haden giving him space and dynamic room to make best use of his ethereal pianissimo. Redman imposes a more macho attitude when his tenor enters the fray, and one can hear the whole group adjusting. In fact, the give-and-take throughout this entire performance is noteworthy. Jarrett doesn't so much lead this band as immerse himself into its suchness. Yet his composition serves as the fluid structure that makes it all possible. This extended work (some 22 minutes) is essential listening for anyone who wants to come to grips with the artistry of pre-Standards Jarrett.
On the album's inner sleeves Keith Jarrett signed this poem dated on December 5, 1974:
Death And The Flower
We live between birth and death
Or so we convince ourselves conveniently
When in truth we are being born and
We are dying simultaneously
Every eternal instant
Of our lives
We should try to be more
Like a flower
Which every day experiences its birth
And death
And who therefore is much more prepared
To live
The life of a flower
So think of Death as a friend and advisor
Who allows us to be born
And to bloom more radiantly
Because of our limits
On Earth
Think of this until you realise
Eternity
And cease to need
The illusion of Death
But do not do this
Before you lose the first great illusion:
The Illusion of Life
Because
To do this
You must die
Many times
And live to
Know it
Personnel
Keith Jarrett - piano, wooden flute, soprano saxophone
