Billboard : 03/03/1956
Score of 74

Perkins sounds like a real find. He’s authoritative and articulate in a moderately modern sense, and he has a fine feel for tempo and beat. The smart program should attract some less venturesome listeners. It includes a tasteful You Don’t Know What Love Is, It Could Happen to You and a good “down” blues, Marblehead. One to recommend to piano fanciers who are willing to explore. Great rhythm support, too.

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Cashbox : 03/01/1956

The jazz-wise public can take a sufficient hear-see with this Dootone disk so as to discover a bright jazz pianist. Carl Perkins is his name (not to be confused with the Western singer Carl Perkins). The platter covers enough ground to display a good, varied sense of jazzmanship. His something borrowed, something original numbers have been specifically chosen to give Carl this chance of displaying a wide range of techniques. A polished and versatile performer with an exciting technique.

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Down Beat : 04/04/1956
Nat Hentoff : 3 stars

In his first full-scale LP recital the Los Angeles pianist is backed ably by bassist Leroy Vinnegar and drummer Lawrence Marable. Perkins himself is well thought of by several prominent jazzmen like Miles Davis, and is best known by his unique use of the left hand “in a backward position while playing the piano, suspending his left arm over the keys and using his elbow to play additional bass notes.”

His chief assets are a fine beat and an emotional strength that includes a deep feeling for the blues. His conception, however, is at present more eclectic than individual, and although he swings, he hasn’t much unmistakably his own to say. He also lacks breadth of imagination. His ballad playing tends to be overdecorative but can be quite pleasant as on Love. There is much forceful potential in Perkins once he finds his own voice. Almost four.

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Liner Notes by Unknown

Here is Carl Perkins. The newest and freshest of the Modern Jazz pianists with the most unique technique of them all. Since childhood, Carl has employed his left hand in a backward position while playing the piano, suspending his left arm over the keys and using his elbow to play additional bass notes. This, combined with his highly imaginative ideas, gives him a dynamic and exciting new sound.

In this album of original and standard tunes, Carl plays the principal types of music on the Jazz scene and proves that he is the master of blues, ballads and up-tempo rhythms. Credit should also be given to Leroy Vinnegar and Lawrence Marable who provide perfect backing and exciting moments of solo artistry.

Carl Perkins was born in Indianapolis on August 16, 1928 and began his professional musical career with Tiny Bradshaw’s band in 1948. He moved to the West Coast a year later and with the exception of 2 years in the Armed Services, has worked with his trio and other top Jazz men in Los Angeles. A favorite of most Jazz men, Perkins has played with Miles Davis, Max Roach, Dizzy Gillespie, Illinois Jacquet, Stuff Smith, Clifford Brown, Frank Morgan and Dexter Gordon.