Bernie Williams

Bernie Williams first saw the world in San Juan, Puerto Rico, spending his early years in the nearby town of Vego Alta, where he picked up the guitar at age eight and soon began private study of classical technique. During his teenage years he kept the instrument at the center of his attention, treating it as a serious vocation while enrolled at a performing arts high school in San Juan. Baseball, however, redirected his future; after high school the New York Yankees drafted him on the strength of his powerful showing on the diamond. Music stayed with him all the same, and he regularly packed a guitar for the team’s away games. Although most of his formal work remained grounded in classical repertoire, he also gravitated toward jazz-fusion figures including Pat Metheny, Scott Henderson, and Mike Stern. The all-star Yankees center fielder finally entered the recording world in 2003 with Journey Within, a Latin-infused smooth-jazz debut.