Blues Forever received reviews from music critics such as Allmusic, The Penguin Guide to Jazz, and The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide, previously known as The Rolling Stone Record Guide.
The Allmusic review by Ron Wynn awarded the album 4 stars stating, "Although every arrangement doesn't click, the band successfully romps and stomps through enough cuts to show that the big band sound doesn't just mean "ghost" groups recreating dusty numbers from the 1930s and 1940s." The Penguin Guide to Jazz described it as "a sparkling big-band date with some demanding charts and a vivid sub-current of the blues". The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide called the album "Abrams's crowning achievement". The Rolling Stone Album Guide, previously known as The Rolling Stone Record Guide, is a book that contains professional music reviews written and edited by staff members from Rolling Stone magazine. 
