Hundreds of people gathered at Discovery Green on Sunday for the first ever kick off to Jazzy Sundays in the Parks which featured Houston musicians taking the crowd on a musical history of jazz.
Also in attendance was KHOU’s Troy Kless. His coverage of the event highlighted how important Houston musicians have been in the development of jazz in the United States and the importance of recognizing that talent.
“Houston, throughout the past century produced some of the greatest jazz musicians of all time,” said Arthur Gottschalk, a professor at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. “Many greats, black Jazz musicians had to leave often time to Europe to find their true appreciation… The fact that Houston is making Jazz in all its various forms available to people at no cost or little cost is…part of what makes Houston a great city,” he added.
Read the rest of Kless’ coverage on KHOU here.
On the lineup of performers were Kyle Turner (Sax), Phil Jones (Piano and Keys), Darrell Lavigne (Piano and Keys), AJ Moyler (Acoustic and Electric Bass), Sam Knight (Drums), Stephen Richard (Alto Sax), Andre Hayward (Trombone), Vincent Gross (Trumpet and Vocals), Ricky Davis (Vocals), Regina Hearne (Vocals) and Kanita Turner (Spoken Word). The program for the evening was developed by KTSU’s General Manager Ernest Walker and produced by Discovery Green’s Production Manager Floyd Willis.
Jazzy Sundays in the Parks is produced by Discovery Green in partnership with Emancipation Park Conservancy and Buffalo Bayou Partnership. It is made possible by a grant from Kinder Foundation.
See the full lineup at discoverygreen.com/jazzy.
Photos by Egidio Narvaez