Young Sultan Stevenson, the latest Tomorrow's Warriors alumnus to emerge blinking into the daylight, wants us to listen to his debut album in a radical new way, viz in the intended sequence and not track-by-random-track.

Why? Because Faithful One is a religiously-inspired musical narrative. Just look at the titles: ‘Prayer’, ‘Thank You, Thank You God’, ‘He Has Made Me Whole’…

Faithful One is an entirely acoustic album. It's also a vivid, dramatic piece of work, melodic and free from dissonance, replete with both light and shade, and infused with the strength and confidence of a far more seasoned musician.

Sultan Stevenson's signature chord is made up of stacked fourths, a sound that instantly evokes McCoy Tyner. It's all over this album, to an extent that could be considered repetitive, or perhaps simply as his personal motif. Either way, it in no way reduces one's enjoyment.

The revelation here, for anyone who has only seen him with his own trio, is the way he writes for horns: he's joined on several tunes by another accomplished young musician, trumpeter Josh Short, alongside one of his mentors, Denys Baptiste. ‘Summer Was Our Holy Place’ surely demonstrates where the future lies, Baptiste soloing over a relaxed funk backing, with well-judged alternation of written passages and improvisation, after which trumpet and tenor spar briefly over the outro.

The title track, with its syncopated trumpet/sax theme, soon switches into upswing with an amazing high-velocity sax solo. By contrast, ‘He Has Made Me Whole’ opens with solo piano and proceeds like a hymn - serene and spacious, with a sweet melody.

The album exudes calm and warmth, just like the man himself.