Bernie Williams: The Journey Within (2003)

Take note! If there's one lively Latin-flavored guitar jazz disc by an all-star center fielder you must listen to this year, make it this one. Don't do it however, just for the novelty of a .300 career-hitting New York Yankee legend making music for a hometown-based label, but because his hobby comes loaded with great melodic ideas and some buoyant, snappy playing. No doubt many critics will see this as a sports celebrity vanity project, and much will be made of all the top musicians who jumped into the fray (Béla Fleck, David Sancious, T-Bone Wolk, Luis Conte), but Williams truly holds his own. The opening track, "La Salsa en Mi," is feisty Latin jamming with an instantly catchy melody, and sets a lofty standard that some of the mellower tracks simply can't match. High-spirited exotic sessions like that and the percussion-intense "Desvelado" run rings around more conventional but still engaging light funk-jazz tracks like "The Way" and the lush ballad "Just Because," whose contribution by labelmate pianist David Benoit is surprisingly subtle. Those who like simple fingerstyling may most enjoy the interlude "Samba Novo," while pop fans may best enjoy the mainstream readings of "Dust in the Wind" and Billy Joel's plaintive "And So It Goes." The best evidence that Williams can funk out as well as he can do salsa (remember, he's a native Puerto Rican) is the turbocharged fusion jam "Stranded on the Bridge." In contemporary jazz circles, Wayman Tisdale has made a successful move from basketball to bass. When Bernie Williams retires, more discs like this will ensure that he's more than a one-shot deal.

Buy at Amazon.com

The Journey Within (RS) / The Journey Within (HF) @ 320K

Bernie Williams: Moving Forward (2009)

Because this second album by the former New York Yankee outfielder was released a month before the passing of NBA Star-turned-popular jazz bassist Wayman Tisdale, there are bound to be some comparisons made. It's a logical starting point, because both were shining lights in two very different fields who launched their musical careers while they were still popular athletes, and part of Tisdale's friendship with Bernie Williams was mentoring the center fielder/classically trained guitarist on how to make a successful transition. Tisdale's plucky contribution to the jangling, soaring, opening title track is also one of his last recorded performances. The connection is there, but stylistically, the two took very different approaches. While Tisdale's playful lead bass vibe found a great niche in smooth urban jazz and stayed there his whole musical career, the wild worldbeat and deep jazz versatility Williams displays on Moving Forward affords him many more genre options. He draws on his Puerto Rican heritage to stir up some zesty and playful, percussive Latin energy on "Ritmo de Otono" (with Dave Koz) and a sizzling, improvisation-heavy romp through Pérez Prado's "Que Rico el Mambo." There's also a Latin connection with Cuban-born pop singer Jon Secada, who jams with Williams on English and Spanish covers of his trademark '90s hit "Just Another Day." The guitarist also has fun with the tracking, seeing no discordance in following the seductive exotica of "African Blues" (complementing his own acoustic lines with the electricity of Spyro Gyra's Julio Fernandez) with the sweet, strumming acoustic pop gem "Chillin in the West" (which revs into a rocker courtesy of Jeff Golub) and then a tender, emotional take on a song near and dear to him, "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." Williams also leans from pop instrumental towards the expansive jazz fusion side in a single bound on "Go for It," with the help of electric guitar great Mike Stern. Williams saves his biggest superstar surprise for last, tacking on a live recording of him playing acoustic with Bruce Springsteen as the rocker exults in his (and Williams' "Glory Days"). This dynamic, unusually eclectic set proves that while the four-time World Series champ's glory days are behind him as a ballplayer, he's Moving Forward towards a stellar career in music.