Little Stevie Wonder, The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie (1962)
Stevie Wonder hated being called “Little Stevie” (and then “Little Stevie Wonder”) but he was 11 and 12 and 13 years old. He was little, and new on the scene – little literally and figuratively. And though he was a wonder – a genius – his label didn’t really know what to do with him. He was the little kid on the Motown revue and the label-boss (big bad Berry Gordy) hated his voice. So he was into Stevie playing harmonica particularly, as well as bongos and drums and of course some piano. There are only two albums in Wonder’s towering career and catalogue that don’t feature him singing at all; this is one of them – his very first. It contains the studio version of Fingertips (which would go on to be a hit and to this day a concert-favourite in the live rendition). I’ve always really liked the very early Stevie stuff (the “Little Stevie” stuff). Of course I love most the run of extraordinary 1970s albums but I had an iPod packed with everything he’d ever done and I loved his early 60s soul-jazz groovin’. It was nice to finally get this on vinyl – I eyed it up, thought about it, but chose a Billie Holiday record instead. Got that home, it had the wrong record in the sleeve, or was the wrong sleeve for the record inside, so I returned it and grabbed the Little Stevie instead. Happy to finally own it.

Sample Track: Bam
The Vinyl Countdown is a document of every LP I listen to, brand new discoveries and old-old favourites; extremely pre-loved, previously abandoned or with the shrink-wrap having just been removed it’s all here at The Vinyl Countdown