Low in the post

These days you won’t find Wayman Tisdale hooping it up on the basketball court. The former 6-foot-9-inch NBA standout power forward, who played for the Indiana Pacers, the Sacramento Kings (1989-'94) and the Phoenix Suns, traded his Nikes in for a bass guitar a few years ago.

This Sunday, Tisdale returns to Sacramento, where he will share the stage with three fellow smooth jazz stars—guitarist Jonathan Butler, trumpeter Chris Botti and keyboardist Alex Bugnon—as part of the eighth annual JazzTrax Christmas Concert 2000. The 20-city tour makes stop No. 3 at the Crest Theatre.

“I consider Sacramento my second home,” Tisdale says during a recent phone interview from his office in Tulsa, Okla. “I have great friends here and wonderful memories when I played ball. And I used to gig around town quite a bit, so it’s going to be exciting to take the stage and perform in front of the home crowd again. We’ll be giving all the holiday classics an R&B and funk-da-fied workout. The show is really a nice, laid-back way to get into the holiday spirit.”

Tisdale says it was the exposure from playing shows around Sacramento and Los Angeles with his Fifth Quarter Band during the Kings’ off-season that helped him land his first recording deal with Motown in 1995. Motown’s now-defunct MoJazz label released Tisdale’s first disc, Power Forward, which did quite well—it peaked at No. 4 on Billboard magazine’s Contemporary Jazz chart, where it had a 25-week run. Tisdale’s 1996 release, In the Zone, topped that, hitting the Top 10 on the same chart during a 30-week run.

“I had always put my music aspirations on the back burner so I could devote all my energy to playing basketball,” Tisdale says. “But I had always been as passionate about playing the bass guitar and writing music as I was about balling.”

Tisdale co-wrote the track “That’s What I Need” with Sacramento producer Brian Alexander Morgan for SWV’s multi-platinum CD It’s About Time.

Tisdale says that making the transition from the NBA to a full-time career in music was challenging but rewarding. “The scariest thing for any professional athlete is to be able to go from one part of their career to another,” he says. “But to be able to walk away from basketball after 12 great years and right into something that I love probably even more than basketball makes me feel very fortunate. I believe I have a lot to offer with my music, and now it’s time for me to show it.”

It didn’t take much for Tisdale to convince Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun of his musical talents. Apparently the music mogul was already a huge fan; he’d heard Tisdale’s music and was so impressed that he flew the bassist to New York and signed him to Atlantic in 1998. “It was like signing with the Chicago Bulls,” says Tisdale. “I was beyond excited. I mean, this is one of the biggest and most established record labels around, and suddenly I’m on it.”

Tisdale’s first album for Atlantic, Decisions, featured collaborations with bassist/producer Marcus Miller. A follow-up is due next spring; Tisdale is currently in the studio putting the finishing touches on it. “I don’t have a title yet,” he says, “but it’s going to feature some gospel and some nice urban instrumental tracks. A little something for everyone, including a nice cover of Earth Wind & Fire’s ‘Can’t Hide Love.’ I think audiences will feel it.

“I’m loving this whole experience," he adds. "There’s something special about [it]—when what you’ve composed comes out, and then people start singing it as you play it. As a musician, that’s the best feeling in the world. It’s what I live for. For me, now, that’s more exciting than a three-pointer at the buzzer."