Kevin Sun

Saxophonist / Composer

Kevin Sun is a Chinese-American saxophonist and composer. His music has been called “...intense, harmonically virtuosic and compositionally complex" (DownBeat Magazine), and he has released four albums to date as a leader. His latest, <3 Bird, is a creative tribute to Charlie Parker that landed on year-end best-of lists in the Boston Globe, PostGenre, and more. Sun has also released albums with the bands Mute, Earprint, and Great On Paper, and he appears on recordings led by Jacob Garchik, Dana Saul, and Xiongguan Zhang. In addition to performing in the U.S., Sun has performed extensively in China and previously served as the Artistic Director of the Blue Note China Jazz Orchestra from 2018 until 2020, leading performances of the BNCJO at the Blue Note Beijing with guest artists such as Rudresh Mahanthappa, Kris Davis, and Ingrid Jensen.

Sun performs every Tuesday at Lowlands Bar in Brooklyn, where he has been in residence since September 2021 with support from Keyed Up!, a program of the nonprofit organization Jazz Generation. He also performs regularly at venues such as Bar Bayeux and Ornithology in Brooklyn. Sun holds an M.M. in Jazz Performance from The New England Conservatory of Music and an A.B. from Harvard College.