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The Middle of Tensions I by Kevin Sun

From the album

Album Title: The Sustain of Memory
Endectomorph Music
Released: 2019

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About the Album

"The Middle of Tensions I" is the first track from composer and saxophonist Kevin Sun's ambitious new double album. The album features three extended compositions for trio, quartet, and quintet – with trumpeter Adam O’Farrill, pianist Dana Saul, bassists Simón Willson and Walter Stinson, and drummers Dayeon Seok and Matt Honor – and shows Sun’s commitment to the formal and dramatic possibilities of small-group formats as well as his emergent vision within them. "The Middle of Tensions I” is the most recent on the album, composed in the latter half of 2018. The work progresses through six movements uncovering new emotional valences in the shadowy post-tonal language favored by the jazz and improvised music vanguard of recent years. Although much has been said about Sun’s study of jazz music in its earlier decades, his explicit interest in contemporary improvisors like Steve Lehman, Matt Mitchell, and Craig Taborn comes to the fore here. Saul imbues the quartet with his kaleidoscopic harmonic sense; the two met as roommates at the Banff Workshop for Jazz and Creative Music in 2012, and reconnected after Sun moved to New York City in 2015. Sun performs regularly around New York with his trio as well as in a number of co-led ensembles including Earprint and Mute. He is also in demand as a sideperson on the jazz and improvised music scenes, and has performed with a variety of ensembles, most notably the John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble and Brian Krock’s Big Heart Machine. Sun has also performed extensively across China and serves as Artistic Director of the Blue Note China Jazz Orchestra, which performs bimonthly at Blue Note Beijing.

Tracks

The Middle of Tensions I; The Middle of Tensions II; The Middle of Tensions III; The Middle of Tensions IV; The Middle of Tensions V; The Middle of Tensions VI; Circle Line I; Circle, Line II; Circle, Line III; Circle, Line IV; Circle, Line V, Circle Line VII; Circle, Line VIII; Circle, Line IX; Circle Line X; Circle, Line XI; Circle, Line XII; The Rigors of Love I; The Rigors of Love II; The Rigors of Love III.

Personnel

Reviews

The Sustain of Memory by Neri Pollastri
The Sustain of Memory by Dan McClenaghan
The Sustain of Memory by Jerome Wilson

Date featured

April 10, 2020

This song appears by permission of the contributing artist and/or record company.
It is for personal use only; no other rights are granted or implied.

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