Jazzy Sundays: Christian McBride and Synesthesia
Buffalo Bayou Partnership is teaming up with two Houston parks to bring you Jazzy Sundays in the Park, a series of FREE, outdoor jazz concerts. The series celebrates the vibrancy and rich tradition of jazz and the incredible Houstonians who preserve the artform. Family-friendly concerts will be held March 8, 15, 22 and 29 at Discovery Green; and April 5, 12, 19, and 26 at The Water Works in Buffalo Bayou Park from 4-7:30 PM.
Bring you picnic blanket, lawn chairs, friends, and family for a groovy afternoon in Buffalo Bayou Park!
Jazzy Sundays in the Parks is made possible by a grant from the Kinder Foundation and sponsored by KTSU.
Location: The Water Works Lawn in Buffalo Bayou Park (105-B Sabine St.)
Lineup:
- April 5: Christian McBride and Synesthesia
- April 12: Melvin Johnson and Mahoganee Renee
- April 19: Susan Carol with Kinder HSPVA Jazz Ensemble
- April 26: Lil Nathan and the Zydeco Big Timers and Steven Dargin & Texas Kreole
Schedule:
- 4:30 PM: Vendor market opens
- 5-7:30 PM: Jazz performances
About Christian McBride
Christian McBride has blazed an extraordinary trail as one of the most preeminent musicians of his time. Over the last three decades, the nin-time Grammy winner has made momentous advances as a dynamic musician and recording artist, a prolific composer-arranger-producer, a distinguished curator of culture, and a dedicated educator and mentor. A prolific bandleader, McBride’s ensembles are each distinctive extensions of his tremendous threshold of creative inspiration, which span and synthesize straight-ahead, experimental, free-leaning jazz, funk, soul, Latin, hip hop and rhythm and blues.
McBride’s staggeringly diverse career also includes the role of host of NPR’s public radio program Jazz Night in America as well as The Lowdown: Conversations with Christian on SiriusXM. McBride also holds artistic director titles at the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, the TD James Moody Jazz Festival, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), and JAZZ HOUSE KiDS.
McBride is an entire artist whose colossal sound, strikingly vast body of work, and huge strides within the realm of artistic directorship are denotative of a self-identified perpetual student, whose love of learning feeds his passion, and whose passion has led a generation of musicians — within jazz and beyond.
About Synesthesia
K’vhondre Tahree-Amir Tinner is a multidisciplinary artist, trumpeter, pianist, composer, and author whose work lives at the intersection of jazz, cinematic storytelling, and speculative world-building. Now based in Houston, Texas and attending Texas Southern University, Tinner brings a global perspective to his sound and creative vision.
His performance career includes notable milestones such as opening for MonoNeon at Houston’s Jazzy Sundays (2025), sharing the stage with Erykah Badu (2023), performing with Solange (2017), and appearing at the Monterey Jazz Festival in both 2024 and 2025. In 2026, he reached a major career landmark by selling out Doc’s Jazz Club for the first time as a headlining artist.
With a sound rooted in jazz but unbound by tradition, Tinner continues to build a body of work that is both musically sophisticated and narratively expansive—positioning himself as a forward-thinking artist shaping his own lane across music, literature, and live performance.