McFerrin's first recorded work, the self-titled album "Bobby McFerrin", was not produced until 1982, when McFerrin was already 32 years old. Before that, he had spent six years developing his musical style, the first two years of which he attempted not to listen to other singers at all, in order to avoid sounding like them. He was influenced by Keith Jarrett, who had achieved great success with a series of solo improvised piano concerts including "The Köln Concert" of 1975, and wanted to attempt something similar vocally.