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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

7
Album Review

Adam O'Farrill: For These Streets

Read "For These Streets" reviewed 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 ...

12
Album Review

Adam O'Farrill: For These Streets

Read "For These Streets" reviewed 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 ...

2
Radio & Podcasts

Cyrus Chestnut, Tyreek McDole, L'Oumigmag, Louis Stewart

Read "Cyrus Chestnut, Tyreek McDole, L'Oumigmag, Louis Stewart" reviewed 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 ...

Album Review

Adam O'Farrill: For These Streets

Read "For These Streets" reviewed 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 ...

1
Radio & Podcasts

Kevin Sun, Valerie June,Brandon Woody, Mina Choi with George Cables and Gustavo Cortinas

Read "Kevin Sun, Valerie June,Brandon Woody, Mina Choi with George Cables and Gustavo Cortinas" reviewed 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 ...

1
Radio & Podcasts

RCA Jazz Workshop + Kevin Sun, Yuhan Su, Connie Han

Read "RCA Jazz Workshop + Kevin Sun, Yuhan Su, Connie Han" reviewed 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 ...

Album Review

Kevin Sun: Quartets

Read "Quartets" reviewed by Vincenzo Roggero


Dopo The Sustain of Memory (Endectomorph, 2019) e il suo ideale seguito The Depths of Memory , ecco il terzo album doppio del talentuoso sassofonista e compositore Kevin Sun. Rispetto ai precedenti, veri e propri concept album costruiti nella forma di suites dall'ampio respiro e con formazioni a geometria variabile, Quartets presenta alcune sostanziali novità. Due sedute di registrazione distinte, la prima datata 2022, la seconda 2023, due differenti quartetti, la classica suddivisione in brani strutturati tra tempi ...

Read more articles

"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

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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

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John Coltrane
saxophone
Joe Henderson
saxophone
Warne Marsh
saxophone, tenor
Charlie Parker
saxophone, alto
Mark Turner
saxophone, tenor
Lester Young
saxophone
Miguel Zenon
saxophone, alto
Steve Lehman
saxophone, alto

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

For These Streets

Out Of Your Head Records
2025

buy

The Fate of the Tenor

Endectomorph Music
2024

buy

Howl

Self Produced
2024

buy

Quartets

Endectomorph Records
2024

buy

The Depths of Memory

Endectomorph Music
2023

buy

<3 Bird

Endectomorph Music
2021

buy

That Lights a Star

From: Quartets
By Kevin Sun

Frozen in Profile

From: The Depths of Memory
By Kevin Sun

Greenlit

From: <3 Bird
By Kevin Sun

The Middle of Tensions I

From: The Sustain of Memory
By Kevin Sun

Find Your Pose

From: 'Trio'
By Kevin Sun

Videos

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