Unlikely trio is perfect mix

Marvin Goldstein believes that music is more powerful than hate, that it is stronger than dissension, that it can overturn despair. If he had his way, he'd sit every enemy in the world down and make then listen to music together. Maybe then, he says, there would be peace.

In the meantime, he's working to change things one heart at a time.

Through his Peace With Music Foundation, Goldstein has set out "to bridge the cultural, religious and political differences of people everywhere through the medium of music."

A recent concert in Los Angeles that featured both an Israeli singer and a Palestinian singer is one example of what the foundation does. Another is the "Friends & Brothers: A Unique Blend of Gospel Favorites" CD and an upcoming concert that features Goldstein on the piano with singers Billy Dean and Thurl Bailey.

"I don't think you could find a more diverse group. If they gave awards for the most unlikely collaboration of artists, we'd win hands down," Goldstein said by phone from his home in Florida. "We have a short Jewish/LDS piano player; a tall, LDS African-American former basketball player who's into soul and R&B; and a Southern Baptist country singer.

"It just shows how music can bring together people who might never have come together otherwise."

The three will be performing at the Sandy Amphitheater Saturday in a concert that will highlight each performer individually, as well as bring them together for some of the gospel songs and hymns that are on the CD. They are also thinking about taking the show on the road, and are already talking about a repeat performance in Abravanel Hall for New Year's Eve.

Fate, determination and airports all played a part in getting the project off the ground.

Billy Dean had a layover at the Atlanta airport when he ran into Goldstein. The two grew up in the same area in Florida. Goldstein remembers when he was in his honky-tonk period, playing and jamming in Tallahassee, and a teenager would join in. "We said, 'This kid's got a future.' After Billy became a country singer, I always had it in the back of my mind that I'd like to do something with him."

So, when they met at the airport, the two sat down to talk. "I'd known Marvin most of my career," Dean said from his home in Nashville. "But I didn't really know what he did. He told me about the Peace With Music Foundation."

Then Goldstein met Bailey in a Delta Crowne Room when the two were waiting for a flight. It turned out that Bailey and Dean knew each other and had worked on other projects together.