This week I attended a show at the Blue Note Jazz Club featuring Lee Ritenour (guitar), Dave Grusin (piano/keyboards), Marvin Lee Davis (bass), and Joel Rosenblatt (drums). The music was fantastic - no surprise there. Striving for continuous harmony, the musicians ebbed and flowed together, taking their cues from one another. The parallels between jazz and the sport of basketball came into focus as I watched the musicians showcase their individual talents within the group framework. I was also reminded of how the evolutional timing of both arts mirrored one another when they played tunes from different jazz eras.

Just as legends Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis transformed the landscape of jazz by introducing their own compositions and styles of play (i.e., bebop, cool, fusion latin, and the list goes on!), basketball greats George Mikan, Bill Russell, and Jerry West were having the same kind of impact on the sport of basketball. Mikan, for example, showed us that big men could be more than a tall body and developed excellent footwork and skills; his dominance was so great that the lane was made wider and the shot-clock installed.

In the 70's, certain artists began to absorb the new trends of soul and funk into the jazz scene while the ABA was in full swing with its own soulful brand of basketball. Even the vocabulary of the game was forced to keep up with the ingenuity of ABA stars like Dr. J (Julius Erving), The Hawk (Connie Hawkins) and The Iceman (George Gervin), who were rocking both their ‘fros and unique flavor of moves.

Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew (1970), having involved the use of electronic instruments and rock based themes, was met with screams of rebellion by so-called jazz purists. “That is NOT jazz!” they cried. In similar fashion the ABA league was taking heat for showcasing the 3-point shot and slam dunks.They were considered--dare I say!?!-- gimmicks, at the time by basketball purists! Needless to say Davis’ record has been more-than accepted by the public and is now celebrated as one of the greatest jazz albums of all time, while the 3-pointer and dunk, as you all know, are vital parts of today’s game.

Still, the art of jazz, like basketball, is not just about the talents of individual musicians, it’s about the music as a whole. The right blend of players, like the perfect ensemble of musicians, leads to extraordinary works that can never be duplicated. The brilliance of Davis’ masterpiece Kind of Blue (1959), was executed due to the superb musicians on the recording. And like the musicians listed on that album, the team rosters of the Celtics Dynasty in the 60's, though anchored by Hall-of-fame Legend Russell, reads like a who’s who of all-time greats.

One of the most beautiful aspects of jazz is the freedom of improvisation that is built into the art of its production. And like jazz, basketball’s most popular highlights are generated literally, in the moment of inspiration. Because whether we understand the intricacies or not, we all know when we’ve witnessed something special.

-NP

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