Writing about a recording such as Everybody Digs Bill Evans can seem like an exercise in futility. Even at this early point in his recording and performing career, Evans seems to have everything in place—technique, sensitive lyricism, a way of interpreting standard material that borders on impressionism; overall, a musical conception that changed the way jazz piano was thought of, listened to, and played.

The Bill Evans trio had been playing together for nearly two years by the time these dates for Sunday at the Village Vanguard were recorded, but the group was under-recorded because Evans, ever the perfectionist, was reluctant to commit “final” performances of these compositions to vinyl. Fortunately, a date on June 25, 1961, is documented pretty much in its entirety on this album and the follow-up disc Waltz for Debby.