Former Sooner Tisdale changes his tunes Hoop star makes mark in contemporary jazz

Then there's the Wayman Tisdale who's making his mark in contemporary jazz, a 37-year-old recording artist who played a pair of sold-out shows recently with saxman Kirk Whalum aboard radio station CD101.9's "Smooth Cruise" on the Hudson.

Imagine, two well-known guys, in two different professions, both named Wayman Tisdale.

"A whole lot of people think there are two Wayman Tisdales," he chuckled. "I'm the same one, the same one who used to get beat up on by the Knicks all the time."

How does an athlete go from driving the baseline in hoops to laying down bass lines in the studio?

"I'm always thinking ahead," Tisdale said. "Even when I was playing, I kept thinking what was next. If I rested on my laurels, I'd disappear as a person."

Long before he retired from the pros four years ago, Tisdale had been working on his music, be it in his hotel room on the road or carrying along his bass and pocket amp on the team bus.

"I took so much flak for that," he said. "I would get on the bus, and Charles Barkley would say, 'Wayman, play me a song' or 'Here comes Michael Jackson.' I took it, but I love those guys... I knew I would make a career in it."

While still playing for the Phoenix Suns, Tisdale released two albums on Motown's jazz label, MoJazz. His second album for Atlantic, "Face to Face," was released in March and has sold about 35,000 copies.