Ambiance was the stage name of saxophonist-vocalist Daaoud Abubakar Balewa, (which was also later extended to Ambiance II Fusion), and the several recordings he made between the late 1970s and mid 80s remain a worthwhile reminder of the liberal way stylistic borders were crossed in the period. While plugging into the prevailing current of electric jazz-funk on this album Balewa investigated the interesting byways of the post-bop tradition, covering two anthems, Joe Henderson's ‘Black Narcissus’ and Chick Corea's ‘Windows’ to good effect, retaining the unique atmosphere of each while adding haunting new wordless vocals from Monife and Atiji.

Although based in Los Angeles, Balewa was born in Nigeria and it is when more overt African influences permeate the music that things go to another level creatively. The hard percussive drive of ‘Something Better’, with its wizardly jangle of agogo bells, is mesmerizing. This is hard-to-categorise music that would have been a tough proposition commercially 40 years ago, but remains worthy of reassessment today.