Ambiance - Ebun (1979/2018) [Hi-Res]

Ambiance’s first album released in 1979 on Da Mon Records, Los Angeles.

Amazing private spiritual jazz-funk/fusion LP, now hard to find. Finally available again, fully licensed and remastered, with original artwork. This album is magnificent in its entirety, no fillers. Some of the best fusion on record!

"The tracks are a sweet blend of sax, flute, keyboards, guitar, and percussion – done in a slightly spiritual mode, with some occasional female vocals that sound like they're lifted right off a Roy Ayers album. The whole thing's pretty darn great – and includes a killer version of Walter Bishop's "Turnaround", plus the original numbers "Ebun", "Camouflage", "After June", and "Bossa Moniife"(Dustygroove.com)."

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.

« 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 » (Allmusic.com).