篮球爵士乐

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.

毫无疑问，爵士乐让我成了一个更好的人，没有这种音乐，我不会像现在这么好。这个音乐激发出了我的激情，让我全身心地投入到生活中。不过爵士乐也让我成了一个更好的篮球运动员。

-Kareem Abdul-Jabar-

卡里姆·阿卜杜尔-贾巴尔

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.

我小时候有一年夏天，大概是1989年，我参加了基督教青年会的一个夏令营。有一天早上，当我抵达营地时，我发现所有人都围着一个脚穿全新乔丹球鞋的孩子。老天，他可是全营最酷的孩子了。那时我六岁，或者是七岁，到现在我还记得这个小孩子的球鞋对所有人的影响。当时我想，篮球一定特别酷。我们把那年夏天剩下的时间都挥洒在了篮球场上，我们一起玩着运球、投篮和传球。即便在很小的时候，我就形成了“反主流”的个性，所以我没选择乔丹，而是把所有人的道德榜样查尔斯·巴克利视作自己的篮球英雄。

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.

我的另一个早期童年记忆，就是在1991年9月28日和父亲一起开车的经历。当时电台里的女士在谈论迈尔斯·戴维斯，他刚刚去世不久。我问爸爸，迈尔斯是不是世界上最好的小号演奏家，我用了大概15年，才彻底明白爸爸当时的回答。我是一个好胜的人，在生活中我也总是黑白分明，但我老丈人却说过这样的话，他说：“音乐不是比赛。音乐的最高境界都是纯粹个人的理解。爵士乐就是要表达人的生活，而不是要比别人更好。”我相信他是孩子也能理解的语言说出了这番话，不过从那时开始，这个观念就深深根植在了我的心里。

These two distinct events have come to define who I am today .

这两件完全不同的事件，塑造了如今我的人格。

The Head

主旋律

Two of the biggest passions in my life are music and basketball， specifically jazz and the Spurs. At first glance they may seem a strange pair. Basketball has set plays， just as most jazz has a set of chord changes. In basketball we see a team run a play， but within that play we see the players react to the activity on the court and improvise within it. Similarly， jazz， the kind of jazz Im talking about -- hard bop andmodern， not that smooth junk that Kenny G has made a fortune selling -- has its own plays.

我这一辈子有两个最大的爱好，就是音乐和篮球，我尤其喜欢爵士乐和马刺队。第一眼看过去，这也许是很奇怪的对比。篮球有着固定的战术，就像大多数爵士乐一样，有着相同的和弦变化。在篮球中，我们能看到球队打固定战术，但在跑固定战术时，我们能看到球员根据场上形势做出反应，即兴发挥。与此类似，我所说的爵士乐——也就是硬派波普爵士和“现代”爵士，而不是肯尼·G大卖的那种垃圾轻柔爵士——也有固定的旋律变化。

On a typical hard bop tune the band will play a written melody over set chord changes （in the jazz vernacular this written melody is called， the head）. After the head， the band generally gives each player in the group an opportunity to solo/improvise over the chord changes. During this improvisation （and for me， this improvisation pretty much defines the heart of jazz） the band plays off each other - reacting to what the other members of the band are playing within the chord changes. There is structure， but at its greatest it is just a loose structure. If the band has its ears and hearts open， fully tunedin to each other， then one-of-a-kind moments of beauty happen. The expression of being human -- from the dizzying highs， through the creamy middles， to the terrifying lows -- flows freely from the artists， through their instruments， into music.

一段典型的硬派波普爵士乐中，乐队会演奏一段根据固定和弦变化写出的旋律（用爵士乐专业用语说的话，这段成曲就称为主旋律）。主旋律演奏结束后，乐队通常会给每一名成员一个在固定和弦变化上单独表演或者即兴发挥的机会（在我看来，这段即兴表演基本就能确定爵士乐的核心了），乐队的所有成员会相互配合——他们会在固定和弦变化的基础上，根据同伴的变化而做出相应变化。这是一种固定的架构，但在最极致的层次，这是一种很松散的架构。如果乐队心神贯通反应迅速，而且彼此之间完全投入，他们就能创作出世所罕见的美妙旋律。那种对人生的表现力——从令人目眩神迷的高音，到柔和的中音，再到阴郁的低音——旋律自由地从艺术家的乐器中溢出，成为一曲美妙的音乐。

Basketball shares this improvisation-withinstructure， or playing the changes， with jazz. The game is full of set motion， but when the initial play is unsuccessful we see players react to this new reality in practiced， but spontaneous ways. This result is born out of something a team has rehearsed many times， but in the flow of a game something within the play may change. A defender may make a well-timed or unexpected rotation， the ball-handler may lose control， or an offensive player may exploit an open lane with a well-timed cut. This changes the landscape of the court， and forces players to find creative solutions within it. Some of the most exciting plays in basketball occur when this happens. For instance， in the game against the Hawks， this happened.

篮球也拥有类似在固定构架上的即兴发挥，或者说，爵士乐中的随着变化而动。篮球这项运动充满了固定的战术配合，但没能打出最初的战术时，我们就能看到球员们根据训练中的练习随机做出反应。这种结果出自球队的反复练习，但在比赛进行时，固定战术中的一些部分也会发生变化。防守人也许会适时做出防守，而且出人意料地做出防守轮转，控球人也许会丢球，进攻球员也可能会在恰当的时候做出空切得到空位机会。这都会改变场上的形式，迫使球员发挥创造力找到解决办法。篮球中一些最令人激赏的表现就源自这种情况。比如说，对老鹰的比赛里就出现过这种情况。

The most classic jazz combo is a quintet， which parallels a basketball teams five players on the court. As much as we hear about the hypothetical "who would win oneon-one： Jordan or LeBron？" the question itself is immaterial. Basketball is not a one-on-one game. I find that kind of what if question goes against the understanding that basketball is a team sport. In an extension of this， the individual awards the media hands out are meaningless， especially given the fact that there are no parameters set for any of them.

最经典的爵士乐是五重奏，这正好对应了篮球场上五名球员。尽管我们总会听到各种假设的“一对一谁会赢：乔丹还是勒布朗？”这种问题，但这种问题本身却没有实质意义。篮球并非一挑一比赛。我发现这种问题有悖于篮球是团队运动的本质。进一步说，媒体颁发的个人奖项毫无意义，尤其关键的是，这类奖项没有任何评价标准。

Just like basketball isnt an individual sport， good jazz isnt made by one great player and a bunch of guys pulled together to complete the combo. Just because you have a great player doesnt mean that the group is going to perform something that anyone wants to hear. A group like that is almost guaranteed to be incapable of producing music that will move an audience. In basketball， having a good player， say Carmelo Anthony， doesnt mean that the team is going to have success on the court.

正如篮球不是个人运动一样，高品质的爵士乐也不是由一个乐手造就，而是需要一群人通力合作。你自己是一个伟大的乐手，并不意味着别人愿意听你的乐队演奏的作品。这样的乐队注定无法创作出打动观众的作品。在篮球领域，拥有一个好的球员，比如说卡梅隆·安东尼，并不意味着球队能够取得成功。

Watching the Spurs on a nightly basis gives us a view into what makes them work as a team. We dont just see them play a couple of times a year， but we get to witness every pick and roll that Tim and Tony run together. Weve seen some iteration of that thousands of times， but each time we get to see the same base play run and finish in a slightly different way. Whether its a simple lay-up off the glass or a kick out to an open shooter， each time we see a play run， it exists in its own unique way. Its what keeps me coming back for every regular season contest.

天天都看马刺的比赛，让我们可以观察到球员如何以一个团队在球场上合作。我们每年不止能看到他们打比赛，还能看到邓肯和帕克的每一个挡拆配合。我们数以千次地看过他们的配合，不过每次当我们看到他们打相同的战术时，每次战术配合的结果都稍有不同。无论是简单的上篮，还是分球给外线的空位投手，每次我们看到一个战术配合时，这些配合都拥有各自不同的特点。正因为如此，我才会关注每一场常规赛比赛。

If you had caught Miles Davis quintet in the mid-sixties on a week-long stand you would have heard the same tunes every night， but never in the same way. To the discerning ear， even a tune that sounded the same on the surface would provide a different narrative， and a fresh view， the next night.

如果你能在上世纪60年代中期用一周时间听迈尔斯·戴维斯的五重奏，那么每一晚，你能听到相同的曲调，但他的演奏方式从不会重复。对于耳力超群的人来说，一个表面上听起来相同的调子，到了第二天就会带来不同的感受。

I think the regular season would be more enjoyable， and much more competitive， with fewer games. We can change that later. I dont want to miss out on any of the hum-drum， dayto-day plays that we enjoy on a nightly basis from our two legends that will be gone before we are ready to say goodbye. While some have found a way to be bored by Tim and Manu， Ill miss their one-of-a-kind play. From the banker， to the drive through the lane filled with euro-steps and behind the back moves. The subtle， and the not-so-subtle， pump-fakes that each has made a staple of their games.

在我看来，如果常规赛减少比赛数量，那么比赛就会变得更好看，也更有对抗性。不过这种改变可以留到以后再说。我不想错过两位传奇球员每天晚上上演的单调战术配合，免得在我们还没做好告别的准备时，他们就会退出联盟的舞台。有人觉得邓肯和吉诺比利的打法很无聊，但我却会怀念他俩超乎寻常的表现。从打板投篮，再到用欧洲步和背后运球甩掉重重防守突进内线。无论是否柔和，那些漂亮的假动作投篮都已成为他们个人的标志。

Manu has the fire， the drive to explore a defense， and the technique to find his way out a jam. Duncan， in his quiet glory， always laid down the foundation， never missing a thing --always an anchor for the lost. Knocking down a 14-footer to remind you he was still carrying the fire.

吉诺比利心中有那样一团怒火，他有动力撕破防守，他也拥有高超的技术突破重重包围。而邓肯，则是低调而沉稳的，他的基本功那么扎实，没有任何缺陷——他总是中流砥柱。命中14英尺的投篮会让你意识到，他心中的怒火并没有熄灭。