籃球爵士樂

Chris Itz

There can be no doubt that jazz has made me a better person than I would have been without it. The music inspires my passion to participate fully and richly in life....but jazz has also made me a better basketball player.

毫無疑問，爵士樂讓我成了一個更好的人，沒有這種音樂，我不會像現(xiàn)在這么好。這個音樂激發(fā)出了我的激情，讓我全身心地投入到生活中。不過爵士樂也讓我成了一個更好的籃球運動員。

-Kareem Abdul-Jabar-

卡里姆·阿卜杜爾-賈巴爾

One summer when I was a kid， circa 1989， I went to a day-camp at the YMCA①. I arrived one morning to find everyone gathered around this one kid who had a brand new pair of Air Jordans. Man， he was the coolest kid in the whole camp. I was six， maybe seven， and I still remember the impact this little kids shoes had on everyone else. Basketball must be really cool， I thought. We spent the rest of that summer dribbling and shooting and passing throwing basketballs around the court. Even at a young age， my personality was already squarely in the "going against the grain" category， so I dismissed Jordan， and promptly chose everyones favorite role-model， Charles Barkley， as my b-ball hero.

我小時候有一年夏天，大概是1989年，我參加了基督教青年會的一個夏令營。有一天早上，當我抵達營地時，我發(fā)現(xiàn)所有人都圍著一個腳穿全新喬丹球鞋的孩子。老天，他可是全營最酷的孩子了。那時我六歲，或者是七歲，到現(xiàn)在我還記得這個小孩子的球鞋對所有人的影響。當時我想，籃球一定特別酷。我們把那年夏天剩下的時間都揮灑在了籃球場上，我們一起玩著運球、投籃和傳球。即便在很小的時候，我就形成了“反主流”的個性，所以我沒選擇喬丹，而是把所有人的道德榜樣查爾斯·巴克利視作自己的籃球英雄。

Another early childhood memory I have is riding in the car with my father on September 28， 1991. The lady on NPR was talking about Miles Davis， who had just died. I asked my pops if Miles was the best trumpet player in the world， and he replied with something that took me maybe 15 years to fully comprhend. Im a competitive person， and I generally prefer absolutes in life， but my wise old-man said something like， "Music is not a competition. At the highest levels it is all subjective. Jazz is about expressing the human condition， it is not about being better than someone." Im sure he said it in a way a kid could understand， but that thought has lived inside me ever since.

我的另一個早期童年記憶，就是在1991年9月28日和父親一起開車的經歷。當時電臺里的女士在談論邁爾斯·戴維斯，他剛剛去世不久。我問爸爸，邁爾斯是不是世界上最好的小號演奏家，我用了大概15年，才徹底明白爸爸當時的回答。我是一個好勝的人，在生活中我也總是黑白分明，但我老丈人卻說過這樣的話，他說：“音樂不是比賽。音樂的最高境界都是純粹個人的理解。爵士樂就是要表達人的生活，而不是要比別人更好。”我相信他是孩子也能理解的語言說出了這番話，不過從那時開始，這個觀念就深深根植在了我的心里。……