Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

This London-born gospel singer has been living in Germany for a long time now and playing gigs on the continent and making a decent living. What's been missing has been an album release and with the arrival of this taster, it looks like that time is not far away now. This pairing of CD and DVD is the perfect appetiser and shows the fabulous blend of jazz, soul and gospel influences that feed into Jnr's music. Highlights include "Wanna Praise" which has a gentle funk groove and the gorgeous "Never Knew" which has some phenomenal jazz piano playing from Emmanuel Waldron. We also get two versions of "Tell You Who" and I have to confess to enjoying the funkier remixed version. The accompanying DVD introduces us to Jnr and features a video of "Never Knew" and some live footage of the band in full flow. Ultimately 'The Prelude' is exactly that, a foretaste of what's to come from a gifted gospel man finally getting his consummate talents out to the public.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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