Label: Endectomorph Records, 2026
Personnel - Kevin Sun: tenor saxophone; Max Light: guitar; Simón Willson: bass; Aaron Seeber: drums.
Willber Sunlight is the recently formed quartet of saxophonist Kevin Sun, guitarist Max Light, bassist Simón Willson, and drummer Aaron Seeber. The album, which celebrates jazz tradition and the friendship between these New York-based artists, features one original composition by each member alongside four thoughtfully selected covers, showing that the band can illuminate the music of masters such as Thelonious Monk, Robert Schumann, and Horace Silver.
Sun’s swinging romp “Belong, Sonny”, whose title is an anagram of Benny Golson’s name, is a contrafact of his classic “Stablemates”. Rhythmically defiant, the piece is anything but static, featuring impish soloing by Light and Sun. The latter’s improvisation unfolds with pitch-perfect articulation, inventive motivic development, and a soulful expressive quality.
Willson’s “Easy Listening” develops with cool assurance, bringing together elements of pop, rock, and jazz. Light and Sun alternate solos with a solid mutual understanding, engaging in a communicative musical dialogue. Light’s “Bagel” embraces a relaxed pace and unaffected demeanor while revealing subtle details that showcase not only his compositional adroitness but also the quartet’s cohesion.
The band puts a fresh face on “Tea For Two”, played with confident uptempo drive, and Schumann’s “Des Abends”, whose gentle cross-rhythms and jazz-inflected arrangement make it feel like an entirely new creation. Monk’s “Locomotive” is an earworm that favors propulsion over abrasion, swinging lusciously from beginning to end.
Following Horace Silver’s celebrated ballad “Peace”, anchored by Seeber’s thoughtfully sizzling brushwork and Willson’s illustrative bass foundation, the album concludes with Seeber’s bop-infused “Teranga Bounce”, a joyful tribute to Charlie Parker that sounds as though it could have come straight from the bebop era.
Willber Sunlight invites enjoyment without necessarily lingering in the memory. It is an engaging listen—an unambiguous ode to jazz tradition and its enduring vitality.
Favorite Tracks:
01 - Belong, Sonny ► 04 - Bagel ► 05 - Des Abends