'Transmigration' opens with the lyrical beauty, 'Twilight Fire,' featuring the bass in a prominent role. The piece is a collaboration of Kumalo and Pati. I sent Chris tapes before the sessions of some of my ideas, Kumalo says. 'He came up with the groove and then I came up with the melody. We got together, and just locked in.'

The funk-inflected tune 'Step by Step,' based on a groove Kumalo had been working on it for a long time, didn't fully bloom until he brought it into the studio. I took it step by step, he says. The final step was bringing in saxophonist Morris Goldberg, a Cape Town horn player who had been the musical director for Rosie O'Donnell's TV show band, to add his lines to the mix.

The R&B/Jazz number 'Only Your Love,' a Pati composition, soars with the vocals of Penny Ford, a very talented singer that spent many years backing Chaka Khan, while the albums jazz-light sway through 'Looking Forward,' reminiscent of fellow South African Jonathan Butler's style, is another Kumalo piece developed in his home studio. The lyrical 'Light Rain' ended up being a family-affair tune. 'It's a song for my wife, says Kumalo. She's been a great inspiration for me. While I was working on it at home, my 10-year-old daughter, Mbali, listened to it and suggested an organ part. She told me, 'If this is for Mommy, then I have to play the keyboard.'

Additional tracks on 'Transmigration' include the joyous, melody-rich 'Make Me Smile' and two numbers, 'Seems Like Old Times' and 'Your Point Being?,' that Kumalo says were unplanned studio journeys. 'I had no idea where these songs were going to go. I just told Chris, let's start and I'll see you at the end of the song. I kept the groove and he followed. We didn't have anything planned. We just jammed and then Chris later layered in parts.' The concept, Kumalo explained, was to employ the organic process used in previous decades in Jazz Fusion projects.

The aptly titled 'Trio' is Kumalo's acoustic bass tune (with a pulsing walking bass line) supported by pianist Bill Smith and drummer Damon Duewhite. 'This was also not planned out,' Kumalo explains. 'We developed this together in the studio. We played straight-ahead, starting slow, then speeding up and slowing down again at the end. I love playing the big bass.'

The finale on 'Transmigration' is 'Africa,' a return to Kumalo's Roots and a fitting end to the album. It's a solo excursion with bass, guitar, wood flute and percussion in the mix. 'I do this in concert, he says. I start my shows with percussion and chanting my traditional things. I always have that African groove in mind. So, in the studio, I told Chris, push the red button and I'll just play. I recorded the percussion part first, then the guitar part and ended with the bass.'

'Africa' is a pleasing reminder of why he decided to pursue a career in music in the first place when he was a child. He recalls how happy people were when they would play at his house and how he desired to do the same when he grew up. 'This song reminds me of people in the villages who celebrate life through the music, he says. Everyone has a good time, which is what this last song, and even the entire album, is all about, that is why this is a good song to end the album with. It's Africa, my way of saying that I'm going back home now.'

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