Sublime private spiritual jazz-funk/fusion album, now hard to find. Finally available again, fully licensed and remastered, with original artwork. Led by saxophonist DAOUD ABUBAKAR BALEWA who studied formal classical music and received instruction from Frank Mitchell (Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers) and Jackie McLean (Blue Note records), AMBIANCE incorporates Brazilian and Latin flavours with a righteous and soulful Afrocentric jazz edge.
This amazing and sought after LP beautifully starts with the haunting "The Clavicle" sampled by MF DOOM on the Special Herbs beat series and contains other gems like the so fresh call for celebration « Fiesta » composed by GATO BARBIERI, the insane spiritual jazz fusion track « Gida-Gida » and the killer modern soul cut There Is A Love featuring the beautiful voice of SYREETA WRIGHT. This album is magnificent in its entirety, no fillers. Some of the best fusion on record!
« Influenced by the modal jazz of John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, McCoy Tyner and Rahsaan Roland Kirk, AMBIANCE was an excellent but little known post-bop group that was active in Los Angeles in the late 1970s and early 1980s. AMBIANCE reflected the spiritual outlook of its founder and leader DAOUD ABUBAKAR BALEWA, a saxophonist/flutist/clarinettist who also played African and Latin percussion and was heavily influenced by world music »