  The Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element |V_ub| can be extracted from the
rate for the semi-leptonic decay B -> pi + l + antineutrino_l, with little
theoretical uncertainty, provided the hadronic form factor for the B -> pi
transition can be measured from some other B decay. In here, we suggest using
the decay B -> pi J\psi. This is a color suppressed decay, and it cannot be
properly described within the usual factorization approximation; we use instead
a simple and very general phenomenological model for the b d J\psi vertex. In
order to relate the hadronic form factors in the B -> pi J\psi and B -> pi + l
+ antineutrino_l decays, we use form factor relations that hold for
heavy-to-light transitions at large recoil.
