Coltrane biographer J. C. Thomas described "Chasin' the Trane" as "fifteen minutes and fifty-five seconds of energetic, expressive changes and counterchanges, interpolations and improvisations in a continuous stream-of-consciousness creation that would leave listeners shaking their heads not in negation but disbelief that such a difficult project had not only been attempted but had also emerged with such musically successful results." He noted that, during the performance and recording, "Max Gordon was nodding his head so forcefully that it seemed ready to snap off... Bob Thiele was tapping his feet hard enough to wear down his heels, puffing so fiercely on his pipe that he nearly insulated himself in a smoke screen of his own making... Rudy van Gelder was a study in near-perpetual motion, following Coltrane around as closely as a bill collector and keeping one of his microphones just inches from the leader's tenor saxophone at all times, even though he had to climb over half the customers to do it." (Van Gelder suggested the title "Chasin' the Trane" for the previously-untitled piece partly as a result of his having to scramble to maintain good microphone placement "with Coltrane swinging his saxophone and stalking the small stage of the basement club.")