Kevin Sun

Emerging prominently in New York’s jazz community during the late 2010s and into the 2020s, tenor saxophonist Kevin Sun immersed himself in the music’s heritage while advancing it through scholarly inquiry and inventive exploration. After completing his studies at Harvard, he launched the Endectomorph imprint in 2016, placing his adaptable tenor saxophone across multiple settings alongside a tight circle of musical associates. Beyond co-leading Great on Paper, Mute, and Earprint, Sun sustained extensive work with the trio completed by bassist Walter Stinson and drummer Matt Honor, heard on the debut release Trio (2018), its successor (Un)seaworthy (2020), and the concert document The Fate of the Tenor (2024). Additional ensembles under his direction regularly incorporated pianist Christian Li, drummer Dayeon Seok, and trumpeter Adam O’Farrill, resulting in the Charlie Parker tribute <3 Bird (2021) and the expansive double album The Depths of Memory (2023).

Born in 1991, Kevin Sun first studied piano before committing to the tenor saxophone and deepening his engagement with music during adolescence. At Montgomery High School he performed in both the jazz ensemble and the marching band, pursued private saxophone instruction with Felipe Salles at the Manhattan School of Music, and joined the Princeton University Jazz Program full time, appearing repeatedly as featured soloist. Between 2010 and 2014 he pursued an English degree at Harvard University, graduating summa cum laude with the essay collection “Making the Hang” and Other Essays on Being, which received the Thomas Temple Hoopes Prize. He then earned a Master of Music in Jazz Performance from the New England Conservatory in 2015. While still an undergraduate, Sun refined his critical writing as Associate Magazine Editor of the Harvard Crimson and as a contributor to Jazz Gallery’s blog.

In the first months of 2016 Sun inaugurated Endectomorph, initially as an outlet for his own work and later as a platform for recordings by associates including pianist Dana Saul, saxophonist Jacob Shulman, and pianist Hayoung Lyou. Early releases documented the quartet GOP/Great on Paper—completed by pianist Isaac Wilson, bassist Simón Willson, and drummer Robin Baytas—and the quartet Earprint—featuring Willson, drummer Dor Herskovits, and trumpeter Tree Palmedo—both reflecting Sun’s pursuit of connections between established jazz language and contemporary playfulness. The first trio album, again with Stinson and Honor, appeared in 2018.

During 2019 Sun tracked a second Earprint album, Easy Listening, while forming the quartet Mute with pianist Christian Li, bassist Jeong Lim Yang, and drummer Dayeon Seok, emphasizing collective texture over individual solos. That same year he issued the expansive double album The Sustain of Memory under his own name, employing two rhythm sections—Stinson/Honor and Willson/Seok—alongside Dana Saul and Adam O’Farrill. Stinson and Honor returned for the subsequent trio recording (Un)seaworthy (2020) and for the Charlie Parker tribute <3 Bird (2021), the latter also including guitarist Max Light, Li, and O’Farrill. Later projects further consolidated these associations: the double-album continuation The Depths of Memory (2023), the first live recording The Fate of the Tenor (2024) showcasing the trio’s rapport, and the second Mute album, After You’ve Gone, issued in 2024.