Reviewed by Tom Lennie

When the sleeve notes credit Ms Kerzner as an “international” musician, they're not wrong. Born in London into a Jewish family of Austrian/Scottish descent, Madeleine spent a decade writing and singing with rock/funk bands in both London and New York circuits, before getting saved during an evangelistic crusade in her home Tottenham in 1991. For a number of years she served as worship leader with churches in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Botswana and Zambia. Currently she pastors a church in Manchester and leads seminars throughout the UK on the diversity of worship. On this her first solo recording, Madeleine draws on the breadth of these varied traditions to serve a well-executed and palatable collection of her own songs (some co-written with Noel Robinson, who also adds some fine guitar playing) along with several traditional African arrangements. Styles vary from upbeat funk to catchy African/Caribbean praise, to soft jazz, to deep, soulful worship, while Judaic influences are, interestingly, nowhere to be found. Though all songs are fairly simple in structure, this generally works fine, as too does the soloist's strong, mature vocals and superb backing sounds - all brought together via Robinson's tight production. All in all - this ain't half bad!

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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