Sixty years ago this fall, the world got its first taste of a Michigan superstar-to-be via an album called “The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie.”
That Motown debut from 12-year-old Stevie Wonder, comprising nine instrumental tracks, wasn’t strictly a jazz record — and it certainly wasn’t a hit. But it wasn’t throwaway tween pop either, and it charted a path that would find Wonder tapping his childhood jazz influences throughout his career.