The New Jersey Performing Arts Center is proud to present Jazz Meets Sports,
a special event connecting jazz artistry and athletic performance
created by Artistic Advisor and GRAMMY® Award-winning bassist Christian McBride. This special one night only program will take place on Sunday, March 2 at 7:00PM in NJPAC's Victoria Theater.
McBride is set to perform with his trio, featuring pianist Christian Sands and drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr., with baseball legend and Latin GRAMMY® nominated guitarist Bernie Williams. McBride will also moderate a conversation featuring Williams and NBA icon and ultimate jazz connoisseur, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Joining the bassist as a co-host of this Jazz Meets Sports conversation is CBS sportscaster Lesley Visser, the first and only woman enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
"I wanted to
find a way to combine my two passions in life. A lot of people aren't
quite sure how the two relate, but the fact is when you have a group
coming together trying to make something happen, it's all about
teamwork. It's all about trusting one another. It's all about
telepathy," explains McBride, who has also written for The Bleacher Report.
"In that sense, sports and music are the exact same thing. Obviously,
music doesn't rely on points to decide a victor, but the process is very
much the same." McBride has served as
artistic director to NJPAC's TD James Moody Democracy of Jazz Festival
for the last two years, and joined the arts center as a Jazz Advisor for
the entire 2013-14 concert season and as curator for his own series of
concerts.
The bassist isn't alone in recognizing the similarities between jazz and sports. Bernie Williams, co-author of Rhythms of the Game: The Link Between Music and Athletic Performance, had a celebrated 16-year career with the New York Yankees as a four-time World Series Champion and five-time All Star.
The MLB center fielder continued to pursue his passion for music with his debut album in 2003, The Journey Within, featuring fusions of jazz, rock, and tropical rhythms. His follow up album, Moving Forward, includes guest appearances by heavyweights including Bruce Springsteen, Jon Secada, Dave Koz, Wayman Tisdale, and more.
Six-time NBA Champion and 19-time NBA All-Star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
was a "no-brainer," says McBride. "I met Kareem back in 1991, everyone
knows what a jazz connoisseur he is and how much he's really gone out on
a limb to listen to jazz and promote jazz and champion jazz."
The New York Times best-selling author has written six books, including his autobiography, Giant Steps,
where the title pays homage to the legendary John Coltrane.
Abdul-Jabbar is also a pop-culture columnist for Esquire.com and just
launched his own sports memorabilia company, StarGuardCollectibles.com.
Abdul-Jabbar also did a piece for JazzTimes.com on the connection between jazz and basketball.
Joining McBride as co-host is CBS Sports broadcaster Lesley Visser.
"I met Lesley about 12 years ago at the Super Bowl. I was performing
there with Sting and her dressing room was next to ours," recalls
McBride. "She just has the greatest personality in the whole world. I'm
very proud to know the only woman in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, for
her broadcasting legend."
In addition to his virtuosity as a bass player, Christian McBride
is an educator, curator and composer-arranger. The Philadelphia-born
musician has performed alongside a diverse set of luminaries including
Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Natalie Cole, Pat Metheny, James Brown,
Sting, Bruce Hornsby and Queen Latifah, among others.
"I have been
the New Jersey Performing Arts Center's artistic advisor for their Jazz
Series now for the last year, and as part of it's first season you want
to do something unusual because at some point when your putting on
concerts your going to start to get into the same routine, the same
people are going to come up, the same process is going to come up, the
same ideas are going to come up," explains McBride. "This is why it was
important to me to think outside of the box and to see if I can do
something with my two passions, jazz and sports."
Tickets may be purchased by telephone at 1-888-GO-NJPAC (1-888-466-5722), at the NJPAC Box Office at One Center Street in downtown Newark (open Tuesday-Saturday, noon to 6:00pm; and Sunday, noon to 5:00pm), or online at www.njpac.org.
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| Christian McBride Trio |
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