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BASEBALL; A Musical Journey That's Close To the Heart

By Jack Curry

• July 13, 2003

Bernie Williams was only 5 or 6 years old when he first started dancing around the living room to the gentle strumming of a guitar in his home in Vega Alta, P.R. His father, Bernabe Williams Sr., had brought the guitar back from Spain, and the soft, soothing sounds provided entertainment for the family and enlightenment for a little boy.

Seeing his father play the guitar, hearing the music it created and studying the impact it had on people were all appealing to Bernie. He moved his feet because that is what children do in those playful settings, but soon he was dancing to get closer to the music. He wanted to feel it and understand it. And, eventually, he did.

''I remember just being attracted to the music,'' Williams said. ''When I had the opportunity to pick up a guitar, it was like it was inside of me. It was a challenge to learn how to play it. I didn't want to stop.''

He never has. Even as Williams showed tremendous promise as a young baseball player, he always apportioned time for music and always figured he was much more likely to be a guitarist in a club in Manhattan than a center fielder at a ballpark in the Bronx. Williams scampered to music lessons with his guitar faster than he ever scooted to baseball practice with his glove.

Even after Williams developed into an All-Star with the Yankees and an instrumental player on four of their World Series championship teams, he kept an amplifier beside his locker, traveled with a guitar strapped to his back and picked at the strings in the clubhouse. Music never vanished from his hectic world, always following him and relaxing him.

''It's a side of me,'' Williams said, ''I've always had.''

The two disparate sides of Bernie Williams will mesh today when he plays for the Yankees in Toronto, gets on a chartered plane after the game and flies to Chicago to play a show at the House of Blues tonight. Williams will be promoting ''The Journey Within,'' his debut recording, which includes 7 original songs among its 11 tracks and will be released by GRP Records on Tuesday to coincide with the All-Star Game.

Williams conceded that he will be nervous for the 45-minute set, the only concert scheduled to promote the recording because he has another full-time gig at a pretty decent salary of $12.5 million a year. There will be an all-star band supporting Williams, whose mother, Rufina, and younger brother, Hiram, are traveling from Puerto Rico and whose wife, Waleska, and three children will also be there.

''One thing I've got going for me is I'm a baseball player playing a guitar,'' Williams said. ''I'm not a renowned jazz guitarist. There should be people who are just happy to see me up there playing.''

Williams is being modest. He is a skilled musician who attended a music high school on scholarship and has been playing guitar for 26 years. Loren Harriet, who produced the recording, said Williams coolly combined technique and emotion, two critical traits, to make him an ''amazing guitarist.'' Harriet has worked with Paul McCartney, who, he said, listened to ''The Journey Within'' and remarked, ''I love this record.''

Williams almost swallowed his cellphone when he heard that McCartney adored his Latin-flavored jazz with a tinge of soul.

Rubén Blades, the Grammy Award-winning singer who was chiefly responsible for helping internationalize salsa music, sings on the recording. Blades knew Williams as the center fielder for the Yankees when he first arrived at Globe Studios in New York in January, even though he had seen Williams briefly jam with Paul Simon several years ago.

''I imagine everyone who went in there thought we'd be helping good old Bernie fulfill his fantasy,'' Blades said. ''We got in there and he was really, really good. I was pleasantly surprised.''

When Blades was asked how long it took him to recognize Williams's talent, he said: ''The first song. I've played with everyone. Salsa, jazz, rock. I've played with a lot of people and listened to a lot of music for over 30 years. You recognize quality immediately.''

Often aloof and usually subdued, Williams showed a rare giddy side when a reporter told him about interviewing Blades.

''What did he say?'' Williams screeched. ''Tell me what he said. He's my hero, man.''

Williams's hero saw a 34-year-old performer with exquisite taste. Blades praised Williams for the quality of his arrangements, the beauty of his melodies and structures, the cleanness of his playing on an acoustic steel string guitar and the imagination in his songs. He expected a baseball player who dabbled as a musician and discovered a music comrade.

''What he has done is like jumping in a pool and, on the way down, he's trying to find out if there's any water in it,'' Blades said. ''I think there's a lot of water in there for Bernie.''

Interestingly, Williams does not consider recording music on such a grand scale as a career after baseball. He will always play the guitar, but the experience, as exciting as it has been, was an intense month of recording, so Williams might not commit to another project anytime soon.

''I have no idea what I'm going to do after I finish playing baseball,'' Williams said. ''I do know, in some way, it's going to be related to music. It's been too big a part of my life. As far as a career in music, I don't know if I'll go that route.''

Williams explained how being a musician who records and tours might be more grueling than being a professional athlete, and he is not interested in continuing that after retiring. The more than $100 million Williams will end up earning in his career makes any subsequent choice easier. Baseball has given Williams a platform, he said, and it allows him to pursue music vigorously or ''chill and just play for fun.''

As a teenager, Williams woke up at 5 a.m. so his father could drive him to his high school, Escuela Libre de Música in San Juan, and he usually did not return home until 8:30 p.m. because of athletic events. It was a grueling schedule, but two decades later, Williams spoke appreciatively about his good fortune of playing music and baseball simultaneously as a youngster.

''The Journey Within'' includes songs about Williams's father, his wife and his son, Bernie, and other tunes Williams called ''the fun songs.'' The most emotional song is ''Para Don Berna,'' the tribute to his father, who died two years ago. Harriet compared it to Eric Clapton's ''Tears in Heaven.'' Hiram plays cello on it.

''I told my brother I hoped I'd get to play it for my father,'' Williams said. ''The song helped in my grieving process. It didn't put closure on my relationship with my father. It put closure on my grieving.''

Williams has never been too chatty, and he said playing music allowed him to ''express the feelings I might not have the opportunity to say or might not be able to say.''

When Williams writes a song, plays it on his guitar and can tell that people understand it, he says it is exhilarating. It is like being 5 or 6 again, dancing around the living room.

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Bernie Williams: 'The Journey Within'

On new cd, yankees fielder looks back to puerto rico.

New York Yankees center fielder and guitarist Bernie Williams. Jorge Alvarez hide caption

Fans of New York Yankees center fielder Bernie Williams know him as an elegant runner and a smart hitter. He's won four Gold Glove awards, and so far, has racked up four World Series rings. In the Yankees clubhouse, he can be found at his corner locker -- picking away at his guitar. Williams has been playing guitar since he was 8. He attended a music high school in Puerto Rico, where he studied classical guitar -- and played baseball on the side.

Now, Williams has released his first CD, called The Journey Within , featuring his guitar playing and songwriting. NPR's Melissa Block, host of All Things Considered, talks with Williams about his music. He says the album brings together the different types of music he's been listening to since childhood.

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Bernie Williams’ Journey Within

By Bill Crandall

Bill Crandall

If you’ve ever seen Bernie Williams take off a bit late after a fly ball, you’ll have to excuse him — he has music in his head. And, besides, it’s not like the Gold Glover has had much trouble making up the ground.

When he’s not roaming centerfield for the New York Yankees, Williams often has a guitar in his hands. And, actually, growing up in Puerto Rico, he thought that music was going to be his calling, until his knack for hitting a baseball got in the way.

Now, after winning four World Series, Bernie Williams, the jazz guitarist — with the help of an all-star cast of session musicians, including keyboardist David Sancious, drummer Kenny Aronoff and bassist T-Bone Wolk — makes his recording debut with The Journey Within . The title is an apt one, as it’s a glimpse inside one of sports’ quietest figures . . . one who’s a bit of a throwback to another Yankee centerfielder.

When did it occur to you to take your music from the clubhouse to record stores?

I’ve thought about materializing all the ideas in my head and putting them in a format that everybody could listen to. But it wasn’t until this year that a lot of people said, ‘Hey, you should do this.’ I’ve been working with some great people, some of the best players in the world, and they’re just picking the stuff like it’s candy and really making it sound the way that I want it to sound.

How far is your guitar from you at any time?

Not too far. I always take it on road trips, I have one or two in the clubhouse — my teammates always tell me to shut up [ laughs ]. They always want to listen to their rap and other stuff.

What did you listen to growing up?

A lot of salsa. I went to a Catholic school, and they had a lot of American influences, so I heard the rock stuff — Kiss, Journey, Queen. And then I went to a music high school and they started teaching me about Beethoven, Mozart and Bach. And then I picked up an electric guitar and started playing, and putting effects on it, and playing rock chords and playing the blues. Now I’m a lot into the jazz and blues, the fusion. A little classical here and there, a little Latin, some rock . . . I like Creed . . . but mostly jazz.

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Speaking of hearing American rock stuff, how did you come to do a version of Kansas’ “Dust in the Wind”?

I think I heard that one in high school too. A lot of guitar players would get together and figure out how to play things, and that was one of the first things that I learned how to play. It was cool ’cause it wasn’t really classical or something that you have to study for, and it sounded really great. It’s one of things I always play when I’m trying to get my chops together, trying to play the arpeggios really fast.

Talk about a track that has special significance for you.

The one that gets me kind of emotional is “Para Don Berna,” the one that I did for my dad. It’s a melancholic, slow tune, but it sort of resembles all the things that I was going through during my father’s sickness and eventually his passing.

I heard you wrote that the very next day. Do you often use your guitar to help you express your feelings?

I do. I kind of think in musical terms — notes and chords — and I can express anger, joy, frustration all through my guitar. You put me in front of a group of people and I cannot talk to them; I get so nervous. But if I have a guitar in my hand I can relate to them much better.

Do you have those notes and chords running through your head when you are out in centerfield?

Yeah, [ laughs ]. It’s very hard to turn it off. But sometimes it’s the thing that gets me through.

I understand that, unlike another Yankee centerfielder, Joe DiMaggio, who didn’t care much for Paul Simon’s work, you and Paul are actually friends.

Yeah, he’s a great Yankee fan, and he goes to the games a lot. And he and I are involved in this children’s fund. Paul Simon has been in the clubhouse a lot of times and I actually got to play in some of his rehearsals for his Broadway play The Capeman — me and [former Yankees infielder] Luis Sojo [ laughs ]. One of the great things about playing for the Yankees is that I have the opportunity to meet so many of the people that I have admired through the years. I feel like a fan. Actually, I had my Telecaster in the clubhouse a few years back, and Paul O’Neill brought Bruce Springsteen down to the clubhouse. I shook his hand, and then I was like, “Listen, I have a guitar there, will you sign it for me?” And he wrote, ‘To Bernie, if you ever get tired of baseball . . .’ It was such a great guitar, but I don’t use it anymore because he signed it.

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OK, a few baseball questions: After winning the World Series three years in a row, how much does it really suck to lose?

It really does. I’m one of those guys where the game goes through my head a hundred times over and over again after it finishes — maybe if I had done certain things different the outcome would not have been the same.

During that monster series you had against Texas in the 1996 playoffs, how big was the ball?

It’s kinda a blur to me now, but it was real big. It’s still big! At one point or another in the season it gets big like that. But it’s great when you get in one of those zones where you can’t do anything wrong.

This one’s been bugging me for years: Why doesn’t Joe [Yankees manager, Torre] bat you third? You’re a prototypical three hitter and he bats you everywhere but there.

I have no idea [ laughs ]. I think it’s a product of hitting between two lefties. I don’t think it has anything to do with the fact that I’m not a power hitter, even though hitting fourth I am supposed to be a power hitter. They want to keep that switch hitter between the two lefties.

With the legends of Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle to contend with, playing centerfield for the Yankees is not just any other position in baseball . . .

To tell you the truth, the first couple of years that I was playing, I didn’t realize the impact of that position in the whole of baseball. And it has only been the last few years that I played the position and that I’ve thought to myself, “This is a great gig.”

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Not a lot of people have the opportunity to have their dreams recorded by the best musicians in the world.

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The Journey Within

Bernie Williams

13 SONGS • 58 MINUTES • JUL 15 2003

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Bernie Williams – The Journey Within

Yes, Bernie Williams plays center field for my beloved New York Yankees. And while many revel in the fact they were defeated in the World Series, Bernie can take solace in the fact that he has released a pretty good record, and is a very fine guitarist.

For those not familiar, Bernie grew up in Puerto Rico, playing ball, and playing guitar. And, as one listen will show you, he’s got the guitar chops. More importantly, for this record he’s also got a lot of talent as a composer. “La Salsa En Mi” comes across at first as some sort of weird, off-kilter “La Bamba.” But by the time it’s through, it’s taken you through lots of twists and turns, complete with some tasty acoustic soloing by Bernie and Bela Fleck on banjo. “Desvelado” is a fine Latin piece with a melody that sticks in your mind like glue, and it features Bernie on electric for one of the few times on the record. Again, he’s got the chops. It’s fairly obvious he’s a fan of folks like Larry Carlton, who like to burn and show some soul at the same time. The funky “Stranded On the Bridge” gives Bernie another chance to plug in. His chordal work and leads shine. There are some nice covers, too. “Samba Novo,” the Baden Powell tune, is a piece played by Bernie solo, and it’s as nice a piece of guitar music as you’ll hear for awhile. Billy Joel’s “And So It Goes” has always had a gorgeous melody, and it’s handled beautifully. There are one or two clinkers. His cover of “Dust In the Wind” seems out of place. Or maybe it’s just my general dislike of that song. Either way, it’s a distraction. Williams’s “Enter the Bond” starts with a horrible dance rhythm track, but features some fine, soulful acoustic soloing that helps redeem it somewhat.

And you might be thinking, “He wouldn’t have had the chance to make this album without his sports fame.” Maybe so, but he’s up to the challenge. The CD is enhanced, and can be viewed in your computer. In interviews, players like Fleck and legendary bassist Lee Sklar point to Bernie’s talents. And Paul McCartney has already signed him to a publishing contract.

It’s easy to see why all this has happened to Bernie. He’s definitely talented enough to carry himself in the music world.

This article originally appeared in VG ‘s Feb. ’03 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

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Home » Jazz Musicians » Bernie Williams

Bernie Williams

Any baseball fan knows how Bernie Williams plays. The superstar New York Yankees center fielder has consistently flashed grace, passion, disciplined focus and a remarkably fluid sense of rhythm in feats both at the plate and in the field that have made him truly the heir in his role to no less than Hall of Famers Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle.

Now music fans will know the same qualities. “The Journey Within,” Williams’ debut album, spotlights his impressive gifts as a guitarist and composer. Due July 15 from renowned GRP Records, it’s a set of shimmering instrumentals • seven original Williams compositions plus versions of Billy Joel’s “And So It Goes,” Kansas’ “Dust in the Wind” and Brazilian legend Baden Powell’s “Samba Novo.”

The music taps his long love of salsa and blues as well as the classical training he received as a teen at the Escuela Libre de Musica High in his native San Juan, Puerto Rico, at the same time that he was drawing the attention of major league scouts as a local baseball sensation. The album, produced by Loren Harriet, spotlights the guitarist’s keen sense of melody as well as his vibrant lead playing, with sterling support from such star guests as Panamanian salsa giant Ruben Blades, jazz banjo master Bela Fleck and Puerto Rican salsa legend Gilberto Santa Rosa, as well as such top support players as bassist Leland Sklar and drummer Kenny Aronoff. Also making an appearance is Hiram Williams, Bernie’s brother, an accomplished cellist. The colorful cover portrait was painted by famed sports impressionist Leroy Neiman.

And giving the project an enthusiastic endorsement is no less than one of music’s Babe Ruth’s • Sir Paul McCartney, who became a Yankees fan when he attended his first baseball game ever in 2001, the Yankees against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the World Series, and was told of Williams’ musical abilities.

“ When I heard this CD, I was blown away by his talent,” says the former Beatle. “Go Bernie, it’s a home run!” In fact, McCartney was so impressed that he recently signed Williams to a publishing deal with his company, one of the largest and most prestigious music publishing firms in the world. While few young athletes have either the inclination or time to pursue serious study of music, Williams credits his musical side for playing an important part in his baseball success.

“ Music gives you rhythm, makes things flow, a lot of things you can utilize in baseball having a musical mind,” he says. “You have coordination, the rhythm, timing. There’s nothing better than having everything flowing in the game, and musically speaking, you can compare it to being in the zone, everything flowing, like it’s effortless. And it happens in both fields.” In fact, when he’s on the field, he’s often got a tune in his head.

“ Most of the time they might be bluesy tunes because I’m in some sort of a slump,” he jokes. “I think about musical ideas all the time. They’re always popping into my head. Every major event that would happen in my life I would try to create a melody, a song that would make me think about that moment.”

He’s not talking about baseball moments, though he has plenty of note, including four World Series titles, five American League championships, four All Star game selections, a career batting average of .308 (including the 1998 American League batting title) and four Gold Gloves.

Rather, music is something he uses to express more personal feelings.

“ Almost all the songs on the CD are from my experiences, things with my wife, my son and my father, things like that,” he says. “I think it’s a very powerful form for me to express my feelings, more than I could express by words. Everyone that knows me knows I don’t really talk that much.”

This is most prominent in three songs: “Para Don Berna” was written for his father, who passed away in May of 2001. “I don’t think I’ll ever have closure on that,” he says. “But it was a good way to express all that I was feeling at the time and a way to say thanks for all he had meant to me in my life.”

With “Bernie Jr.” he created a musical portrait of his 12-year-old son. “I tried to make it sound like there was duality in the structure, because when he was a little kid he was like that,” Williams says. “He could be a fireball and have this passionate view to life, and at the same time he could be such a loving and caring kid. Actually that defines his personality now, too. It really touched me in a special way to see that he had developed and was learning at such a young age. He inspired me to write about the opposite sides of his personality. Maybe I’ll have to write another song for his teenage years!”

And “Just Because” is a love letter to his wife. “In the melody line I sort of raise the tone three times, but each time I do it differently,” he says. “It’s saying, ‘Thank you for being who you are,’ and then next time I say it on a different tone and try to pick something else to say about her. Then it goes into the bridge, and then back to the beginning and the solo with a celebration tone, really saying, ‘Thanks, and I love you,’ and all the feelings are crammed up into one big structure at the end.”

Other pieces show his humorous side (“Stranded on the Bridge” and the 007/martial arts joint tribute “Enter the Bond”) and introspection (“Desvelado,” which means sleepless). And then there’s the opening track, “La Salsa En Mi,” which sets the album’s tone as an homage to his homeland.

“ That’s a tribute to my home town,” he says. “I grew up listening to salsa, that’s the main rhythm we have. With all the musical influences I have, I wanted to make that tune more of a celebration or tribute to the way I see salsa. The title means “The Salsa in Me,” but it can also be interpreted as “The Salsa in E” • the song is in the key of E, and it’s like do-re-mi, the musical note.”

But salsa is just one style of music that runs in Williams’ blood.

Jeff Beck, Gladys Knight, Herbie Hancock, John Pizzarelli, Keb' MO' & Bernie Williams to Headline Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival 9th Edition June 11 - June 19

Source: Dalmath Associates Inc. March 30, 2010

More than 1000 Musicians to Perform at 285 Concerts, in 17 Venues Rochester NY - March 30, 2010 - The Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival presented by M&T Bank today announced its largest lineup ever with more than 1000 artists performing at 285 concerts and a record number of international artists. Jeff Beck, Gladys Knight, Herbie Hancock, Keb' Mo', Bernie Williams and John Pizzarelli will headline the nine-day event that runs from Friday June 11 through Saturday June 19. After ... read more

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Even had he not patrolled centerfield for the New York Yankees for 16 seasons, Bernie Williams would marshal attention for his mellow, smooth brand of Latin jazz. Williams's finger-picking resounds with echoes of the great Grant Green on stirring renditions of clever covers and sparkling originals. The athlete-musician has lived a bit of a charmed life, joining up with everyone from guitarist David Koz to the Boss, Bruce Springsteen.

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Baseball player Bernie Williams swings more than a bat! Like the former pro basketball player Wayman Tisdale , Williams is a serious musician--a good acoustic and electric guitarist. Even if the guy is no Pat Metheny , the Puerto Rican-born superstar is classically trained, has a decent tone, and credible technique. Supporting Williams on his debut endeavor is a who's who of contemporary jazz and Latin superstars: from the banjo maestro Bela Fleck and keyboardist David Benoit to the Panamanian salsa singer/songwriter Ruben Blades , and the salsero Gilberto Santa Rosa . Musically, the material includes Latin-tinged, smooth jazz numbers, like the spirited "La Salsa En Mi," the bouncy, "Samba Novo" by the Brazilian guitar king Baden Powell, and reverent readings of Kansas 's "Dust in the Wind" and Billy Joel 's "And So It Goes." The most heartfelt track on this CD is the wistful "Para Don Berna," an elegy to Williams' late father. Now, we have a good idea of what this outfielder will do when he quits his day job. --Eugene Holley, Jr.

Product details

• Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
• Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 5.75 x 0.45 inches; 3.32 ounces
• Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ Grp Records
• Date First Available ‏ : ‎ October 21, 2006
• Label ‏ : ‎ Grp Records
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00009VGX9
• Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
• #349 in Smooth Jazz (CDs & Vinyl)
• #19,039 in Pop (CDs & Vinyl)

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Essaying the pop culture that matters since 1999

Bernie Williams: The Journey Within

Bernie Williams is the centerfielder for the New York Yankees baseball team. If you are a baseball fan, or if you have just happened to see Williams play baseball because the Yankees have been the most successful baseball franchise of the past ten years, you have probably noticed that Williams does not play baseball like other centerfielders.

Centerfield is a position that requires a player to have great speed to cover a large area. Playing in the middle of the outfield often requires a player to make sprawling, reckless catches. These catches are the consequence of being stuck out in the great wide open, constantly patrolling the deepest part of the ballpark. A lot of centerfielders are pure speed; they break on the ball with an amazing intensity, taking a frenzied approach when the ball is hit, which pays off with the potential of making a spectacular shoestring catch.

Williams’s play in centerfield has never been described as intense, frenzied, sprawling, or reckless. Williams’s play has been compared to that of an antelope or a gazelle of the plains. He has a long, measured stride that does not look fast, but which always gets him to where he needs to be. Once his graceful stride kicks in and he extends his elongated reach, he is able to turn a play that at first seemed impossible into something that looks almost routine. His ability is amazing, particularly in its grace.

Williams brings this same measured intensity and this same graceful approach to his debut album of mostly original jazz material. Williams, who began studying music on a scholarship in Puerto Rico at the age of 13, plays guitar and had always envisioned his career being musical rather than athletic. Of course, no one turns down the opportunity to be an all-star baseball player, so Williams’s workday has taken him to the ballpark rather than the studio — at least until now.

The Journey Within , Williams’s debut, is firmly rooted in the smooth jazz genre. Do not think that because Williams is a professional athlete his album exhibits any of the reckless bravado that has been exhibited on other musical offerings by professional athletes. With covers of “Dust in the Wind” and Billy Joel’s “And So It Goes” it is apparent this record is nothing but adult jazz. Williams’s training on the guitar took place with a classical emphasis, and the attention to control, detail, and pacing that is the cornerstone of classical guitar is evident through this entire album.

Williams is able to assemble a nice collection of accomplished artists to lend a hand throughout The Journey Within . Players such as Bela Fleck, Rueben Blades, and Gilberto Santa Rosa each add to the competency and skill with which Williams composes and plays each track.

The Journey Within reflects Williams’s Latin roots on tracks such as “La Salsa en Mi”, “Para Don Berna”, and “Desvelado”. “La Salsa en Mi” opens the album and possesses its most festive and aggressive playing. “Enter the Bond” stands out from the rest of the record by utilizing a pulsating techno beat to introduce the song and displaying a spy-theme vibe that feels much more adventurous that the record’s other tracks. “Bernie Jr.” is a comfortable track that sounds like what it feels like to hang around the house on a warm spring Sunday morning.

The Journey Within is expertly crafted, and it is obvious that the reason for this record finding its way to a major label is as much, if not more, the musician’s skill as his popularity. Smooth jazz is a sound that is always ordered, comforting, and never really surprising. Williams’s debut meets each of these goals with an expertly crafted record that establishes his potential to have another dream career waiting for him once his current dream career comes to an end.

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Bernie Williams: The Journey Within

• By David Dube

Generous mixes of Latin beats laced with various percussion styles are just one highlight of The Journey Within. Soft soulful tracks filled with a variety of horns, make this an enjoyable and relaxing listen. Williams’ serene guitar leads justify the limited vocals, although none of them belong to Williams himself.

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Beyond baseball, Yankees great Bernie Williams' artistic legacy carries on with daughter

NEW YORK – Away from center field at Yankee Stadium, Bernie Williams honed a different art.

“He was always in our living room playing the guitar,’’ his daughter, Beatriz, told The Record and NorthJersey.com. “And I came to associate the sound of an acoustic guitar with my dad.’’

In ways he might never have imagined during his All-Star Yankees career, Bernie Williams’ music and Puerto Rican heritage influenced and inspired his children toward their own artistic pursuits.

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A solo exhibition of Beatriz Williams’ art, “Del Patio De Mi Titi’’ (From My Aunt’s Backyard) premiered April 20-21 in Manhattan, highlighting a whirlwind April for both father and daughter.

A week prior, The Bernie Williams Collective played a week’s residency at the acclaimed Café Carlyle, featuring his own compositions, a blend of Latin Jazz and new designs on classic jazz standards.

This Wednesday, Williams will be part of the New York Philharmonic’s Spring Gala at Geffen Hall.

Like her father’s musical work, Beatriz’s art is reflective, personal and unique, drawing on a sense of nostalgia from her earliest experiences visiting Puerto Rico.

“In my work, I kind of placed me and my family members into the landscape with me,’’ says Beatriz. “As a way to remind us that this place is a part of us and will never leave us.’’

 Growing up with an All-Star dad

Maintaining a connection with Puerto Rico, where he grew up, was important for Bernie Williams as he became a father, raising a family in Westchester in Armonk.

Those trips to visit family made an impression, and “it’s so gratifying to see Beatriz now trying to reconnect with that heritage,’’ says Williams, whose children were educated in the Byram Hills school district.

Beatriz began taking private art classes during elementary school, then AP studio art in high school as her father traveled with the Yankees as part of four world championship teams.

“Because it was my dad’s job, it was just like a regular part of our lives,’’ Beatriz said of attending the previous Yankee Stadium with her siblings.

In the designated family playroom, “that’s where we’d get to see our friends,’’ the children of Luis Soto, Mariano Rivera and Tino Martinez, with whom Beatriz maintains contact.

“And if your dad came up to bat, you’d go look at the TV for a bit and then you’d go back to playing.’’

The holidays became a time to travel to Puerto Rico, a place that still influences Beatriz’s art today.

Bernie Williams' musical journey

Moving into the twilight of his Yankees career in 2003, Bernie Williams’ first album, "The Journey Within" reached No. 3 on the Contemporary Jazz album chart.

Music was always in Williams’ post-baseball plans. “I just didn’t know what capacity,’’ be it teaching, or jamming with friends or furthering his musical education – which he did, graduating from the Manhattan School of Music in 2016.

“Never did I envision having an opportunity to put a band together and perform in front of people,’’ but Williams “utilized the self-confidence that baseball gave me’’ to pursue music at a higher level.

“The vulnerability of being an artist and putting yourself out there to be enjoyed, critiqued, talked about – it’s something I’ve kind of gotten accustomed to playing baseball in New York.

“Every day, your performance is scrutinized and dissected. I knew I wasn’t going to have a problem with that,’’ said Williams, but, “I had to work myself up to get to the point where I was confident enough to put a band together and perform the way that I do.’’

Music, art and family

For Williams, the Hillside Food Outreach, feeding those in need in Westchester and Putnam, and his work to promote awareness of pulmonary fibrosis, and his involvement in music education at public schools, are passions that share the stage.

But in witnessing Beatriz’s growth as an artist, and her success “brings me so much joy at this time in my life,’’ said Williams, and “catching up for all the time I wasn’t there,’’ when family life had to be planned around the baseball schedule.

“There’s nothing that can bring you more joy than to be together on a project,’’ he said, and Beatriz will be collaborating again on designing labels for the “Bernie’s Blend’’ line produced by Millbrook Vineyards and Winery, another vehicle for art influenced by a family’s heritage.

Recalling a recent trip with her mother and siblings, driving the countryside, “I was just looking at the lush greenery and picturing my life as it would have been had I lived there,’’ said Beatriz.

“It’s really interesting to think about the juxtaposition of the two realities I have because New York has provided so many opportunities and I’m so grateful,’’ she said.

“And I wouldn’t be able to pursue my art if I didn’t have the foundation my dad provided with his work.’’

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Beyond baseball, Yankees great Bernie Williams' artistic legacy carries on with daughter

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Bernie Williams is back in center - only this time Lincoln Center for New York Philharmonic debut

This image released by the New York Philharmonic shows former New York Yankees baseball player Bernie Williams, standing left, with conductor Gustavo Dudamel as he makes his New York Philharmonic debut in New York on Wednesday, April 24, 2024. (Brandon Patoc/New York Philharmonic via AP)

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NEW YORK (AP) — Bernie Williams was in the center, just like the old days at Yankee Stadium. Only this time he was at Lincoln Center alongside conductor Gustavo Dudamel and making his New York Philharmonic debut.

After spending 16 years gaining fame while roaming the grass where Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle once trod, Williams was on the stage made famous by Leonard Bernstein and where guitar great Andrés Segovia once played.

Williams performed “Moving Forward,” a jazz-infused work he composed in 2009 that was newly arranged by Jeff Tyzik as part of the orchestra’s spring gala on Wednesday night at David Geffen Hall, a public exclamation of the former All-Star outfielder’s second career as a classical guitarist.

A day before the performance, he recalled going to the Manhattan School of Music from 2012-16 to learn his new trade and earn a bachelor’s degree.

“A lot of these people were running laps around me and I had to come to the realization that I had to work as hard as have I ever worked upon anything, including being a Major League Baseball player,” he said. “I had to put in the work, and none of that stuff that I did prior was going to help me here. I really had to reinvent myself. In learning all of the stuff that I learned being a professional baseball player, some of the stuff really helped me in performing under pressure, putting in the work in and being relentless.”

Dudamel, who becomes music director in 2026-27, gave Williams a glowing introduction that was repeatedly interrupted by applause as he recounted Williams’ background at an event to raise money for music education.

“Bernie grew up in Puerto Rico and I think that maybe he had some other opportunities outside music,” Dudamel said.

Wearing a dark suit and tie with patent leather loafers, Williams played his 4 1/2-minute composition backed by the Philharmonic, joined by student musicians.

Now 55, Williams signed with the Yankees on his 17th birthday in 1985, made it to the major leagues six years later and became a four-time World Series champion, five-time All-Star and the 1998 AL batting champion. He hit .297 with 287 homers, 1,257 RBIs and 147 stolen bases for the Yankees from 1991-2006.

He began playing guitar when he was 6 or 7 in Puerto Rico, learning from his mother’s friends, and listened to the guitar work of his dad, Bernabé. Bernie brought his guitar to the ballpark and played in the clubhouse lounge to MTV tunes picked by teammate Derek Jeter.

“When you’re on the road, there’s a certain amount of time that you spend in the room,” Williams said. “A lot of people play video games, a lot of people just watch TV. So I used to kind of like split time between watching TV, ordering room service and playing guitar between.”

He used to play in a paint room under the right-field stands at the old Yankee Stadium, where Ron Guidry had left a drum set that Paul O’Neill took over. Williams brought an amplifier, and they jammed after batting practice and during rain delays.

A particular thrill occurred before a game against Minnesota in 1998, when Bruce Springsteen walked into the clubhouse, spoke with some of the Yankees players and signed Williams’ guitar, writing: “To Bernie, If you ever get tired of baseball ...” The two joined to play “Glory Days” at Joe Torre’s Safe at Home Foundation gala in 2007.

By 2003, Williams released his first recording, “The Journey Within.” His second, “Moving Forward,” earned a Latin Grammy nomination in 2009 for best instrumental album, and he’s contemplating his third, which he hopes will have more daring playing and writing.

“Anybody can enjoy a good piece of music and some of that music is able to move people in ways that nothing else can,” Williams said. “So understanding those emotions that come with being a musician I think has taken me in a great journey and it’s just such an awesome process to have in contrast to what I used to do in sports. It’s great to have an opportunity to do both things in one lifetime.”

His mother was adamant about him going to college. Williams received a degree in 2016 after the four-year undergraduate program. He studied guitar with Christopher Rosenberg, harmony, composition and improvisation with Garry Dial and writing with John Pagano. Williams now serves on the school’s board of trustees.

Ahead of this week’s performance, Williams spent from April 9-13 performing at the Café Carlyle, the celebrated Upper East Side nightspot where Bobby Short entertained New York’s high society from 1968-2004.

“Everybody’s so close and you hear a pin drop and everybody’s so attentive,” he said. “It’s such a unique experience, at least for me. I’m used to playing in front of 50,000 people, everybody yelling and screaming their hearts out. So it’s, yeah, quite a contrast.”

Philharmonic CEO Gary Ginstling said after Wednesday morning’s rehearsal that 30 orchestra musicians lined up to get balls, caps and shirts autographed by Williams as he posed for photos. Cellist Patrick Jee rehearsed in a Yankees jersey already signed by Torre and Jeter.

“I’ve never seen them all so giddy about one of our artists,” Ginstling said.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Bernie Williams on a ‘nervous’ journey from World Series to New York Philharmonic

For Bernie Williams, grabbing a bat was easy. He would pull out the same trusty 34 1/2-inch, 33-ounce Rawlings model for all occasions during his New York Yankees career, whether that was in spring training or the playoffs, whether he was facing a flamethrower or a knuckleballer.

Music, however, is different.

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“Choosing a guitar is about the gig,’’ Williams said. “It’s about the sound that you want to create, and it’s about the music that you’re going to play. You need the right instrument with the right gig, and that varies with time.”

Such is what vexes the former outfielder as he prepares for a second big-league debut — this time in the arts. Williams for the first time will play guitar with the New York Philharmonic, at the Spring Gala on Wednesday, an epic milestone for a five-time All-Star and four-time World Series champion now deep into life’s second act.

So, which guitar? The acoustic steel string? The archtop? Williams said a few weeks ago that he might even choose to go electric “for that sort of Santana-like sound,” though he added it “might just be too over the top for that environment.”

Williams, who spent his entire career with the Yankees from 1991 to 2006, has rebranded himself as an accomplished musician, ordained with a Latin Grammy nomination and critical acclaim. Still, at age 55, the thought of stepping into the spotlight at another hallowed New York venue — think Yankee Stadium, but with better acoustics — gives Williams butterflies.

On Wednesday, he will play one selection, his 2009 piece “Moving Forward,” as newly arranged by jazz artist Jeff Tyzik. Famed conductor Gustavo Dudamel will be at the helm.

“I expect to be as nervous as I’ve ever been on any kind of stage,’’ Williams said “But I think it’s gonna be no different from playing a seventh game of the World Series, you know?”

To answer that last question: No, Mr. Williams, we don’t know. There is no one else in baseball history poised to compare the experience of baseball’s Fall Classic and the Philharmonic’s Spring Gala. No one else has played in “The House That Ruth Built” and in the concert hall Leonard Bernstein christened by conducting on opening night in 1962.

Williams’ distinction means much gnashing of teeth for the president and CEO of the New York Philharmonic. Gary Ginstling is an ardent Mets fan.

“This is a deeply difficult decision for me, I have to say,’’ Ginstling cracked during a phone interview. “I did scour the landscape for any retired Mets. But no one could hold a candle to Bernie Williams.”

This experience is enough to give Williams flashbacks to his first big-league at-bat. The switch hitter was 22 years old when he stepped to the plate in the third inning at Yankee Stadium against left-handed junkballer Jeff Ballard on July 7, 1991. It was hardly a soaring opening note. The Baseball-Reference box score immortalized the moment this way: Groundout: 3B-1B (Weak 3B) .

The outing got better. Williams drove in a run with the sacrifice fly in the fifth and brought home another run with an infield single in the ninth .

“I remember being really nervous,’’ Williams said of that debut. “I remember being in this place where there was a lot of uncertainty about my career and my own ability to stay in the big leagues. All I wanted to do was to get an opportunity to be able to show people what I can do.’’

A week later, Williams hit his first home run at Anaheim Stadium against the California Angels. He hit a fastball thrown by Chuck Finley over the left-center field wall. He kept rolling from there: a .297 batting average with 287 home runs and 147 stolen bases over 16 seasons.

July 14, 1991 Bernie Williams hits his first career home run pic.twitter.com/nYIteNuXlL — NY Yankees Throwbacks (@yankeethrowback) February 19, 2022

Williams helped the Yankees win four World Series titles, including three in a row from 1998 to 2000. His 22 career postseason homers rank third all-time behind Manny Ramírez (29) and José Altuve (27).

That summation has applied, at times, to his musical career, partly because it would be easy to dismiss Williams as just another retired jock with an expensive new hobby. But his lifelong musical journey is part of what appeals to the New York Philharmonic. The Spring Gala, to be performed at the David Geffen Hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, is a fundraiser for musical education. Ginstling wants the younger crowd to be inspired by Williams’ scholarly dedication to his craft.

Williams’ first instructor was his father. Bernabé Williams, an able seaman with the Merchant Marine, returned from Spain with a gift for his 7-year-old son. It was a guitar that his son never put down. The family then found a guitar teacher in its neighborhood in Puerto Rico, and by the time Bernie was 9 years old, he had performed on a local radio station with other star pupils.

“The guitar teacher had all the little kids that were taking lessons with him, the ones that were kind of like standouts,’’ Williams recalled. “He would give them an opportunity to play a song or two on that radio show. … It was such a great experience and kind of set the stage for everything that came after.”

Williams kept playing throughout his baseball career, especially so while grieving the loss of his father, who died of lung disease in 2001 . The former batting champion then studied guitar and composition for a year at the State University of New York at Purchase in preparation for his first album, “Moving Forward.” That release strengthened his bona fides thanks to 14 solid tracks including collaborations with Bruce Springsteen, Jon Secada and Dave Koz.

But eventually, Williams formalized his expertise. He enrolled in the prestigious Manhattan School of Music en route to a bachelor’s degree.

“I tell you what, none of the home runs that I hit in the postseason helped me there,” Williams said. “I had to really reinvent myself. And in a very strange way, I had to earn the admiration of the kids that I was playing with, because they were all virtuosos in their own instruments by the time they got to the Manhattan School of Music.

“I was the old guy in the back of the room. I was asking all the questions and asking that no one erase the blackboard until I was finished writing all the notes.”

Williams wasn’t chasing a diploma for the sake of the paper. The experience signified his graduation from ballplayer to artist.

“I think the school gave me a great perspective on the reasons why I wanted to be a musician and the responsibility that we have as music makers to make sure that we make this world a better place,” he said. “The joy and the power of music is just incredible thing to use for the good of the world.”

Therein lies the message of the Spring Gala and underscores why even a Mets fan like Ginstling embraces a Yankee in the house. The eclectic bill on Wednesday is designed to introduce new audiences to the philharmonic. Selections range from a suite from Richard Strauss’ “Der Rosenkavalier” to two pieces from rapper Common to an aria called “Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5,” sung by the South Korean soprano Hera Hyesang Park.

“I think that’s what I’m so excited about,” Ginstling said. “We’re gonna get a ton of Bernie Williams fans in the house that night who probably will be hearing the New York Philharmonic for the first time. It’ll be great for them to hear Bernie, but we want them to hear the orchestra play Strauss. And we want them to hear the orchestra play Nina Shekhar, this up-and-coming composer whose piece we’re playing.

“We’re hoping that they’ll get hooked not just by Bernie, but by all of this repertoire, and they’ll come back.”

Until then, Williams sometimes wakes up unexpectedly at 2:30 a.m. and reaches for his guitar. Still half-awake, he’ll strum until the notes sound just as they should before allowing himself to drift back to sleep.

“That’s the level of preparation you need for an event like this,” he said. “Because when the nerves come in, you want to still be in control and not freeze when the situation arises. The only antidote to that is being well-prepared.

“That’s true of doing anything that requires the spotlight and great expectations and great pressures.”

Williams hardly is the first ballplayer to make news with his music. As far back as 1964, a Yankees bus ride turned tense when Yogi Berra grew tired of hearing “Mary Had a Little Lamb” as played on the harmonica by a utility infielder named Phil Linz.

But that was the “New York Phil harmonica.” The New York Philharmonic is a whole different ballgame.

“If anything,” Williams said, “baseball taught me to be able to perform under pressure, and this is definitely going put that to the test.”

(Top photo: Mychal Watts / Getty Images)

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Daniel Brown is a staff editor/writer for The Athletic MLB. He began covering Bay Area sports in 1995, including stints as a beat writer covering the Giants and 49ers. His feature story on Sergio Romo and a young cancer patient won first place in feature writing from the Associated Press Sports Editors in 2015. He is a native of Cotati, Calif., and a graduate of UC Davis. Follow Daniel on Twitter @ BrownieAthletic

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Bernie Williams debuts in center (stage) with the New York Philharmonic

Bernie Williams was in the center, just like the old days at Yankee Stadium. Only this time he was at Lincoln Center alongside conductor Gustavo Dudamel and making his New York Philharmonic debut.

After spending 16 years gaining fame while roaming the grass where Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle once trod, Williams was on the stage made famous by Leonard Bernstein and where guitar great Andrés Segovia once played.

Williams performed “Moving Forward,” a jazz-infused work he composed in 2009 that was newly arranged by Jeff Tyzik as part of the orchestra’s spring gala on Wednesday night at David Geffen Hall, a public exclamation of the former All-Star outfielder’s second career as a classical guitarist.

“A lot of these people were running laps around me and I had to come to the realization that I had to work as hard as have I ever worked upon anything, including being a Major League Baseball player,” he said. “I had to put in the work, and none of that stuff that I did prior was going to help me here. I really had to reinvent myself. In learning all of the stuff that I learned being a professional baseball player, some of the stuff really helped me in performing under pressure, putting in the work in and being relentless.”

Dudamel, who becomes music director in 2026-27, gave Williams a glowing introduction that was repeatedly interrupted by applause as he recounted Williams’ background at an event to raise money for music education.

Now 55, Williams signed with the Yankees on his 17th birthday in 1985, made it to the major leagues six years later and became a four-time World Series champion, five-time All-Star and the 1998 AL batting champion. He hit .297 with 287 homers, 1,257 RBIs and 147 stolen bases for the Yankees from 1991-2006.

He began playing guitar when he was 6 or 7 in Puerto Rico, learning from his mother’s friends, and listened to the guitar work of his dad, Bernabé. Bernie brought his guitar to the ballpark and played in the clubhouse lounge to MTV tunes picked by teammate Derek Jeter.

“When you’re on the road, there’s a certain amount of time that you spend in the room,” Williams said. “A lot of people play video games, a lot of people just watch TV. So I used to kind of like split time between watching TV, ordering room service and playing guitar between.”

He used to play in a paint room under the right-field stands at the old Yankee Stadium, where Ron Guidry had left a drum set that Paul O’Neill took over. Williams brought an amplifier, and they jammed after batting practice and during rain delays.

A particular thrill occurred before a game against Minnesota in 1998, when Bruce Springsteen walked into the clubhouse, spoke with some of the Yankees players and signed Williams’ guitar, writing: “To Bernie, If you ever get tired of baseball …” The two joined to play “Glory Days” at Joe Torre’s Safe at Home Foundation gala in 2007.

By 2003, Williams released his first recording, “The Journey Within.” His second, “Moving Forward,” earned a Latin Grammy nomination in 2009 for best instrumental album, and he’s contemplating his third, which he hopes will have more daring playing and writing.

“Anybody can enjoy a good piece of music and some of that music is able to move people in ways that nothing else can,” Williams said. “So understanding those emotions that come with being a musician I think has taken me in a great journey and it’s just such an awesome process to have in contrast to what I used to do in sports. It’s great to have an opportunity to do both things in one lifetime.”

His mother was adamant about him going to college. Williams received a degree in 2016 after the four-year undergraduate program. He studied guitar with Christopher Rosenberg, harmony, composition and improvisation with Garry Dial and writing with John Pagano. Williams now serves on the school’s board of trustees.

Ahead of this week’s performance, Williams spent from April 9-13 performing at the Café Carlyle, the celebrated Upper East Side nightspot where Bobby Short entertained New York’s high society from 1968-2004.

“Everybody’s so close and you hear a pin drop and everybody’s so attentive,” he said. “It’s such a unique experience, at least for me. I’m used to playing in front of 50,000 people, everybody yelling and screaming their hearts out. So it’s, yeah, quite a contrast.”

Philharmonic CEO Gary Ginstling said after Wednesday morning’s rehearsal that 30 orchestra musicians lined up to get balls, caps and shirts autographed by Williams as he posed for photos. Cellist Patrick Jee rehearsed in a Yankees jersey already signed by Torre and Jeter.

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