{"id":40200,"date":"2007-03-12T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2007-03-12T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/everybody-digs-bill-evans\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T11:20:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T11:20:13","slug":"everybody-digs-bill-evans","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/everybody-digs-bill-evans\/","title":{"rendered":"Everybody Digs Bill Evans"},"content":{"rendered":"

People who know me may ask me from time to time, \u201cHey, CT, if you say how much you love Bill Evans\u2019s music, how come you\u2019ve only reviewed one of his albums<\/a>?\u201d<\/p>\n

Good question\u2026 wish I had a good answer. But it\u2019s a wrong that is easily reversed — and what better way than to check out Everybody Digs Bill Evans<\/i>, the second release from the jazz pianist?<\/p>\n

If you pick this disc up expecting the near-frantic piano playing that occasionally marked New Jazz Conceptions<\/i>, chances are you\u2019ll be disappointed. Here, Evans is almost introspective in his playing, taking an often softer approach to the music and his playing.<\/p>\n

Ah, but therein lies the beauty of this disc \u2013 and one can almost put the credit for the change in style in the hands of Miles Davis, whose group Evans briefly joined in the mid-\u201850s. Back on his own with the backing band of bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Philly Joe Jones, Evans seemed to take a lot of what he absorbed from his time with <\/city><\/place>Davis and applied it to his own performances.<\/p>\n

Take, for example, the power hidden in the gentle touch of songs like \u201cYoung And Foolish,\u201d \u201cPeace Piece\u201d and \u201cWhat Is There To Say?\u201d Granted, it may seem like Evans took a step backward from his innovative piano phrasings, but having listened to this CD on and off for a few years (no joke), you really need to pay attention to the music contained on this platter. Lock yourself down with a good pair of headphones and let the music envelop you, and you will undoubtedly be surprised at just how good<\/i> these performances are.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t to say that Everybody Digs Bill Evans<\/i> is a mellow listen. The opening track \u201cMinority\u201d continues the style of jazz that Evans introduced on New Jazz Conceptions<\/i> that, frankly, I absolutely love. Likewise, their take on Cole Porter\u2019s \u201cNight And Day\u201d and Sonny Rollins\u2019s \u201cOleo\u201d carry this disc into new areas, inviting the listener to come along, albeit on Evans\u2019s own terms. It\u2019s a journey well worth taking. <\/p>\n

It can be argued that Evans had yet to hit his peak with the Trio, having not hooked up with Scott LeFaro at this point. This may be so \u2013 but there is no denying the magic that this version of the Trio had. The interlocking of Evans\u2019s piano with the under-stated bass work by Chambers and Jones\u2019s skin work is, pure and simple, magic that cannot be denied.<\/p>\n

If any fault had to be taken with this disc, it\u2019s that it, admittedly, is not the easiest disc to get into \u2013 it\u2019s not as approachable as New Jazz Conceptions<\/i> was, to my ears. Still, if the listener applies just a little patience and sets aside 50 minutes of quiet time to devote to nothing but this disc, your effort will quickly be rewarded. (Pressed for time? No sweat — simply split your listen up in two halves, following each \u201cEpilogue\u201d that Evans set through the disc. You will have to carry on listening after the second version of \u201cEpilogue,\u201d though.)<\/p>\n

Looking back, I can\u2019t believe I haven\u2019t reviewed any of Evans\u2019s work since 2002. Worse yet, I can\u2019t believe it\u2019s taken me as long to see the true genius of Everybody Digs Bill Evans<\/i>. Here\u2019s hoping it doesn\u2019t take me as long to continue discovering why Evans, in my mind, is one of the best jazz musicians I have discovered to date.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28708,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6751],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-40200","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-bill-evans","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40200"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}