The Ambassadors

In 1969 the Ambassadors scored their lone modest R&B success with the dramatic Philadelphia-soul ballad “I Really Love You,” whose ascending horn riff was shaped in part by co-writer Kenny Gamble. The group remained intact long enough to record the album Soul Summit, which enlisted pianist Leon Huff and drummer Earl Young—two players central to the Gamble-Huff productions that defined the height of Philadelphia soul in the early 1970s. Although the Ambassadors themselves displayed limited individual charisma, the same quality was scarcely the strong point of several other prominent Philadelphia soul ensembles; stronger material might well have elevated their fortunes. Today the scarce original Soul Summit LP, reissued on CD in 1998, offers a rewarding discovery for admirers of the Gamble-Huff aesthetic seeking a polished yet seldom-heard illustration of that sound.