Kevin Sun, member of the Spotlight On alumni club, featured on my "Best Jazz Albums of 2024: All-Star Break Edition" for the website All About Jazz. The release of his I selected, Fate of the Tenor (Endectomorph Music), is a record I cannot get enough of and features one of my favorite instrumental configurations, the saxophone trio.

Now, with the forthcoming release in October of his Quartets album, I am already thinking I need to hold space on my year-end list...

Member's first: August 19; Open to the public: August 26.


Spotlight On: What was your first paycheck related to music?

Kevin Sun: Honestly can't remember, but first regular formal paycheck (not cash) was from helping write grants at The Jazz Gallery in college...

SO: When you were 15 your favorite artist, song or album was:

KS: Stan Getz

SO: Who is the biggest influence on your musical life?

KS: Let's call it a three-way tie or Triforce between Lester Young, Charlie Parker, and John Coltrane (wisdom/power/courage, however you'd assign it)

SO: You are programming a music festival. What artists, dead or alive, headline Friday, Saturday and Sunday night?

KS: Count Basie 1930s Old Testament Band, early '50s Duke Ellington Orchestra featuring special guest Charlie Parker, early '80s Yellow Magic Orchestra

SO: What artist is the most underrated or misunderstood?

KS: So many, but let's start with Albert Ayler

SO: What is the last concert you saw?

KS: Aaron Quinn's Sunchoke at Lowlands Bar (July 8, 2024)



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