Kevin Sun

  As of October 2021, there is music weekly at Lowlands Bar  (543 3rd Ave.) in Gowanus, Brooklyn. Sets are at 6:30 & 8 PM each Tuesday, and my friend Dierk Peters is curating Wednesdays at 8 PM. All shows are suggested donation only ($10 if you can), and we hope you'll join us or spread the word so that this series can continue as a part of the Brooklyn jazz scene ca. fall 2021 and beyond. See below for the schedule and some notes: Tuesday, October 5, 2021: Willber Sunlight Max Light - guitar Kevin Sun - saxophone Simón Willson - bass Aaron Seeber - drums A co-led aggregation featuring a tenor saxophone-guitar frontline that may recall similar modern jazz groups from the late '90s onward. With song contributions from each member of the band plus interpretations of standards, Willber Sunlight makes its NYC debut here. See two archived streaming shows from the summer here: July 18, 2021 + August 1, 2021 --- Tuesday, October 12, 2021: Happy Trio Kevin Sun - saxophone Thoma

Bird's 101st birth anniversary is August 29, 2021, which also happens to be the release date for  <3 Bird , a recording of original compositions and arrangements inspired by Charlie Parker.  In light of the occasion, I'll be presenting four streaming sets of music that night with myself, Max Light on guitar, Christian Li on piano, Walter Stinson on bass, and Matt Honor on drums. You can watch them below on Sunday the 29th and anytime after as well. I hope you enjoy the streams and the album. 7:00 PM ET, Set 1: Obscure Bird Set list & notes: I. “Bongo Bop” & “Bongo Beep” (1947) Recorded in New York City in October and December 1947 for the Dial label, “Bongo Bop” and “Bongo Beep” are two 12-bar blues lines in C. Both feature a Latin-tinged feel, and we merge the lines in our interpretation. II. Charlie’s Wig (1947) Recorded at the same session as “Bongo Beep,” “Charlie’s Wig” is based on the harmony of “When I Grow Too Old to Dream,” a 1934 pop song by Sigmund Romberg

Various thoughts and musings on Bird occasioned by the 100th anniversary of his birth. "Confirmation" "Fine and Dandy" "This Time the Dream's On Me" Three Rare Blues Performances Recorded & Unrecorded Bird Synchronic Bird Superlative Bird Pres & Bird

  *** ed note: Past shows are now archived at the  Streaming page  for 5 bucks a pop.  In the interest of making shows more accessible, we're now streaming them on-demand  à la YouTube/Netflix/Criterion Channel for a week at a time each Friday through Thursday (still 3 USD for the week's access).  In honor of the release of my second trio album, (Un)seaworthy , at the end of the month, the album release stream will be free. We'll be on hiatus in December, but the streaming archive will still be up for your listening pleasure. Buy your tickets and view the performances here .

*** ed note: Past shows are now archived at the Streaming page for 5 bucks a pop.  We're back again for October, this time with an additional Sunday afternoon matinee at 2 PM EDT. Tickets are still 3 USD per show and give you access for all three set times per weekend (8 PM on Friday and Saturday nights, plus Sunday). Buy your tickets and view the performances here .

  I tested the internet streaming waters two weeks ago with a Bird centennial show, which featured some arrangements of Charlie Parker's music that I'd been tinkering with during the quarantine. Live gigs aren't coming back anytime soon as far as I can tell, so the next best thing aside from meditating and self-care is playing music. 

Off the cuff notes and thoughts on Bird, Part IV: Bird said, “Prez laughs when I tell him that I’m a fan of his and have been for years. I used to sit under a platform in Kansas City and listen for hours, because I loved the man. Prez would say, ‘You’re a fan of mine?’” — Bird: The Legend of Charlie Parker , Robert Reisner "Bird never talked about music, except one time I heard him arguing with a classical musician friend of mine.  He told the cat that you could do anything with chords. I disagreed, told him that you couldn’t play D natural on the fifth bar of a B flat blues. He said you could.  One night later on at Birdland, I heard Lester Young do it, but he bent the note. Bird was there when it happened he just looked over at me with that 'I told you so' look that he would lay on you when he had proved you wrong."  — Miles Davis,  The Autobiography  (with Quincy Troupe) When Bird came back to Kansas City from the Ozarks he had so grown musically that he began to g