Going South

Omri Ziegele Where's Africa Trio

This new album by Omri Ziegel's ''Where's Africa'' trio is in a palce where there is unmitigated joy; its movements are feather-light, yet its grooves are earthy. That state of being in which everything can flow freely, the songs, time, like children's rhyms and rounds, circling until they suddenly lead us out into the open. The keyboard transforms itself into a whole battery of tuned drums - it becomes a melodica, a bass, a universal instrument. In addition there is the simmering of the percussion, either with a relaxed timefeel or driving rhythms, over which the alto saxophone can lift raise itself - song-like, hymnic, spiritual, unchained as if in a trance. There are moments when everything connects: the joy of the dance and the ''petite mort'' - devotion and prayer.

Price: $28.98