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Kevin Sun
Kevin Sun is a saxophonist and composer living in New York City. His music has been called “...intense, harmonically virtuosic and compositionally complex" by DownBeat Magazine, and he has released seven albums to date—most recently, Quartets, in October 2024.
Sun has also recorded four albums with the ensembles Mute, Earprint, and Great On Paper, and he appears on recordings led by Jacob Garchik, Dana Saul, Xiongguan Zhang, and Elijah Shiffer.
In addition to performing in the U.S., Sun has performed extensively in China and has served as the Artistic Director of the Blue Note China Jazz Orchestra. In 2021, Sun was named a Finalist for the Jerome Hill Foundation Artist Fellowship.
Awards
Finalist, Jerome Hill Foundation Artist Fellowship (2021)
Gear
VENN G2 Tenor Saxophone Reeds (2.5) by D'Addario
Tags
Elijah Shiffer: City Of Birds, Volume 3: Fly By Night Blues
by Max Kutner
Few current composers are as restlessly inventive as saxophonist-clarinetist Elijah Shiffer. Over the past decade, Shiffer has led numerous ensembles and written an ever-expanding catalog of original music, all crafted and thematically tied closely to and informed by distinct aspects of his interests and tastes. Fly by Night Blues, the third volume in his City of Birds series, speaks to all those qualities. Like the previous two offerings, Shiffer uses meticulously transcribed songs and voices from birds native to the ...
Continue ReadingAdam O'Farrill: For These Streets
by John Sharpe
With For These Streets, trumpeter and composer Adam O'Farrill presents a sharply contoured, richly imagined statement for mid-sized band--his most complete vision to date. Drawing on an eclectic range of influences, from 1930s-era music, literature and film to the rhythms of contemporary urban life, O'Farrill leads a wily crew of his peers through a program that moves with narrative cohesion. Though not a suite in the formal sense, the album unfolds like one, the pieces linked by emotional throughlines and ...
Continue ReadingAdam O'Farrill: For These Streets
by Mark Corroto
Trumpeter and composer Adam O'Farrill distills a heady mix of inspirations into For These Streets, the debut release from his new octet. Drawing on music, literature and the ambiance of the 1930s, the album reflects his immersion in the era--Henry Miller's prose, Charlie Chaplin's City Lights, and the sonic worlds of Stravinsky, Ravel, Carlos Chávez and Kurt Weill. None of this background is necessary to appreciate the music, nor is it mentioned in the packaging. But knowing it adds a ...
Continue ReadingCyrus Chestnut, Tyreek McDole, L'Oumigmag, Louis Stewart
by Cheryl K.
During this week's two-hour program of Jazz and improvised music, pianists Cyrus Chestnut, Satoko Fujii+, and Rob Clearfield; vocalists Tyreek McDole and Camila Meza; saxophonist Kevin Sun; the groups Whispering Worlds and L'Oumigmag; and guitarists Louis Stewart and Nic Ferron. Playlist Thelonious Monk “Brilliant Corners" from Brilliant Corners (Riverside) 7:45 Cyrus Chestnut “There Is a Fountain" from Rhythm, Melody, and Harmony (HighNote) 5:16 Satoko Fujii This Is It! “Orange Flicker" from Message (Libra) 5:08 Satoko Fujii Tokyo Trio ...
Continue ReadingAdam O'Farrill: For These Streets
by Angelo Leonardi
Con questo nuovo disco Adam O'Farrill scrive una delle pagine più avvincenti del 2025, confermando di non essere solo un magistrale trombettista ma un compositore d'alto spessore anche per medio organico. Nei quattro album col quartetto Stranger Days, ha dimostrato di saper integrare con coerenza le forme del post bop degli anni sessanta con gli sviluppi delle avanguardie successive e in questo ottetto stellare prosegue, ampliando lo spettro armonico e timbrico con l'uso di vibrafono (Patricia Brennan), chitarra ...
Continue ReadingKevin Sun, Valerie June,Brandon Woody, Mina Choi with George Cables and Gustavo Cortinas
by Hobart Taylor
New music from Kevin Sun, The Ostara Project, The Nano Brothers and a tune from Zoh Amba.Playlist Valerie June “Calling My Spirit" from Owls, Omens, and Oracles (Concord) 0:00 Hot 8 Brass Band “Respect My Mind" from Big Tuba (Tru Thoughts) 2:00 Ostara Project" Papa" from Roots (Rhea) 6:23 Host Speaks 11:07 History Dog “Field Recordings" from Root Systems (Otherly Love) 12:42 Brandon Woody “ Beyond The Reach Of Our Eyes" from For The Love Of It All ...
Continue ReadingRCA Jazz Workshop + Kevin Sun, Yuhan Su, Connie Han
by David Brown
This week is a two-part show. Part 1 takes a look at The RCA Victor Jazz Workshop series of LPs released between 1956 and 57. RCA promoted the releases stating: “This exciting new series would be a transmission belt for new ideas in jazz orchestration, or sometimes for experiments in instrumentation." The artists were Manny Albam, Billy Byers, Al Cohn, Hal McKusick, George Russell and Hal Schaefer. Part 2 is a showcase of contemporary Asian and Asian American Jazz artists ...
Continue Reading"The saxophonist Kevin Sun has been making his mark on the New York scene of late by way of studiousness and subtlety ... Sun has something original going on, too: his own feeling of loose coil and terse freedom, and a personal approach to disrupting time." — The New York Times
"...a player who sees the big picture and his evolving place within it" - The New York City Jazz Record
"...intense, harmonically virtuosic and compositionally complex" - DownBeat Magazine
"...Sun swings for the fences with his sense of form and scale" - WBGO
Primary Instrument
Saxophone, tenor
Location
New York City
Willing to teach
Intermediate to advanced
Credentials/Background
Pedagogical interests include basics of saxophone technique (sound production, articulation, inflection, posture, etc.), idiomatic jazz improvisation (swing, bebop, "post-bop"), and other technical aspects of the contemporary jazz mainstream. Emphasis on transcribing, study of source material, and fundamentals of idiomatic collaborative musicmaking. Also, willing to talk about more flashy stuff, e.g., hexatonic scales, chord substitutions and path-making, intervallic constructions, and other conceptual material
John Coltrane
saxophone
Joe Henderson
saxophone
Vijay Iyer
piano
Warne Marsh
saxophone, tenor
Charlie Parker
saxophone, alto
Mark Turner
saxophone, tenor
Lester Young
saxophone
Miles Okazaki
guitar
Miguel Zenon
saxophone, alto
Steve Lehman
saxophone, altoPhotos
Music
That Lights a Star
From: QuartetsBy Kevin Sun
Frozen in Profile
From: The Depths of MemoryBy Kevin Sun
Greenlit
From: <3 BirdBy Kevin Sun
The Middle of Tensions I
From: The Sustain of MemoryBy Kevin Sun
Find Your Pose
From: 'Trio'By Kevin Sun
Videos
Kevin Sun
Location: New York City
Instrument: Saxophone, tenor
Born: November 27, 1991
Publicist: Braithwaite & Katz Communications
