Kevin Sun

Quartets (2 CDs)

 Endectomorph

Quartets marks the third time that saxophonist Kevin Sun has appeared on these page this year.  In March we had his trio recording, Fate of the Tenor, a live date from his long running residency at Brooklyn’s Lowland Bar. In May Sun appeared with the Asian- American quartet Mute on their album, After You’ve Gone.  Sun remains one of the most active players in Brooklyn appearing often at Ornithology for example. Now we have two CDS with tow different quartets recorded respectively in the Fall of 2022 and in the spring of 2023. Like Fate of the Tenor the earlier session features drummer Matt Honor and bassist Walter Stinson joined by pianist Dana Saul. Stinson remains on board in the latter session with pianist Christian Li (the pianist in the group Mute) and drummer Kayvon Gordon as Sun felt the need to change his sound after playing regularly at Lowlands since 2021. The first disc is considerably shorter at slightly less than 39 minutes while the second is just a tad over 51 minutes.

On the opening “Dance Notations” Sun defers mostly to his bandmates, using his saxophone as a rhythm instrumentals Saul spins the melody with ample contributions from Stinson and Honor, who explodes with a definitive solod to cap the piece. “Far East Western” is the pivotal track with a jagged, melancholy intro to the piece which evolves into a series of searching piano sequences before Sun enters fiercely, reaching forcibly into every key of his horn. The piece, like a few others, is inspired by Japanese films.  On the contrary, the quartet, led initially by Saul and his lyrical, dominant right-hand single note approach and followed by Sun,  turns most tender on the flowing ballad “Shadows Over the Sea.”

On the seesaw-like “Melpomene” Sun issues a series of staccato bursts in concert with the rhythm section mid-piece while giving them plenty of room to shine otherwise with Saul playing different rhythms simultaneously with each hand until around the three and half minute mark where Sun launches into hjis rapid-fire clusters. “And the Oscar Goes To” is a low-fi  dramatic piece featuring Saul that sets up the all out fury of “Storied History,” by far the most conventional of any piece to this point as it includes strains of the favored jazz tune, Jerome Kern’s “All the Things You Are.” The disc highlight though is clearly the closer, “Title Theme:The Legend of Zelda (Ocarina of Time),” credited to Koji Kondo, a mesmerizing, melodic ballad of Eastern flavor with soft tones all around, including Honor on brushes. DiscOne has quite a variety and an exemplary exposition of Sun’s composition style, which unlike many leaders often puts the soloing spotlight on his bandmates rather than him.

To begin with he seems to have an obsession, or maybe a clear distaste of the Kardashians by including their name in the opening and closing pieces.  From the outset you can hear a different, more coherent rhythm approach from his new quartet on the brief “Heideggerdashian.” The ballad “Homage Kong” rather obviously nods to the composer of the first disc’s final track. As a pianist is more chord driven than Saul but Gordon seems every bit as subtle as Honor. Surprisingly we next hear a cover of a popular Broadway tune, “On the Street Where You Live,” where Sun almost entirely carries the indelible melody alone. While the ending seems a bit untethered, the soul-jazz groove laid down by the rhythm section is a nice touch.  The quartet then delivers an angular, slow tempo approach to “Rudderless Blues,” which like its title seems directionless yet features inspired blowing from Sun and intriguing chord choices from Li.

The quartet moves further ‘out’ on the fragmented “That Lights a Star.” Listen to the rhythm shift toward the end of the piece bringing it more into a swinging gait. The repetitive circular figure in “Outlawry’ points to the kind of off kilter compositional style that marked the first disc while ‘tbh” mixes the conventional with the ‘out.” Li busts forth with his most expressive, intriguing solo on the disc here.  These intricate rhythm patterns continue on “Pixelate” which has Sun in full flight. It may have been wise to skip the poppy “Yellow Magic (Tong Poo)” and “Estate” which so much smoother, they don’t seem to fit with the rest of Sun’s material. Yet, his freestyle bop on the closer “Kierkegaardashian” is another reminder of his outstanding talent.

While neither disc is especially cohesive, the edge goes to Disc One but there are surely enough highlights on Disc 2 to entice listening.  Sun is clearly still experimenting to an extent, but to his credit, this sounds different than previous outings and his compositional style offers constant surprises. There’s no doubt that Sun is a creative force on the contemporary jazz scene and he clearly advances his growing reputation with these two albums.

– Jim Hynes

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