The album received universally favourable reviews. AllMusic awarded the album 4½ stars and called it an "intense, cerebral, and beautiful album".[1]The Guardian's John Fordham identifies it as "Another bold step on Mehldau's imperious way".[3]
On All About Jazz, Doug Collete noted "Mehldau plays beautifully on his own, his work is florid with detail, yet never just flowery. There is a deeply felt passion in all he plays, and that's exactly why he is so engrossing to hear: in a solo setting Mehldau demonstrates how he selects his ideas altogether discriminatingly from what must be a veritable flood of variations that occur to him as he plays. It's not long into listening to Live in Tokyo that you are reminded how skillfully he runs the gamut of emotion in his playing".[6]
JazzTimes reviewer, Harvey Siders commented "Few pianists can match Brad Mehldau when it comes to cross-fertilizing jazz, classical and rock. The same applies for technique, taste and intellectual curiosity. All of those qualities are on display in Mehldau's latest CD".[7]
Track listing
All compositions by Brad Mehldau except as indicated