The Jazz Soul Of Little Stevie (1962)

The Jazz Soul Of Little Stevie (1962)

Little Stevie’s completely instrumental Motown debut is a formidable presentation of the precocious young artist’s myriad talents. His abilities on bongos, drums, organ, piano and harmonica are all on display here, like a Chinese menu of freakish musical competency. He adds “composer” to the list as well, offering up two original songs — the upbeat organ showcase “Wondering” and the laid back “Session Number 112.” The album has more chops than a butcher shop and it’s an easy listen to be sure, but lives on as evidence of the greatness to come — an early take of “Fingertips” serves as the lead track and feels mostly inert compared to the future live version. And probably early listeners were left wondering, “Sure, but can he SING?” Yeah, we’ll get to that soon.