Jazz Articles about Ben Sidran

About Ben Sidran

Book Review

The Ballad of Tommy LiPuma Ben Sidran 286 pages ISBN: #978-0578556604 Nardis Books 2020 Keyboardist, vocalist, composer and author, plus long-time compatriot of none other than 'The Space Cowboy' himself, Steve Miller, Ben Sidran is the epitome of well-crafted spontaneity. As was, in his own inimitable fashion, musician/producer/entrepreneur Tommy LiPuma. Little wonder the former's book devoted to the latter reads like eavesdropping on a scintillating conversation between two erudite gentlemen in a ...

Radio & Podcasts

The Ben Sidran Shuffle

by Ludovico Granvassu
March 20, 2020

A discography that spans five-decades is hard to squeeze in a little more than an hour. To show the many stylistic sides of pianist, singer and composer (but also producer, musicologist, journalist, scholar and all-around jazz statesman) Ben Sidran, we have put together this playlist which shuffles back and forth between his early and late albums. If you're not yet familiar with his work do yourself a favor, press play on the player without hesitation, and soon you'll be on ...

Live Review

Ben Sidran at Dazzle

by Geoff Anderson
November 3, 2019

Ben Sidran Dazzle Denver, CO October 23, 2019 Ben Sidran is a quadruple threat. Many great musicians claim the trifecta of vocals, instrumental chops and songwriting. Sidran has all those. On top of all that, Sidran adds philosophizing. Or maybe it's storytelling. Or maybe both of those things. Wednesday night, Sidran worked all four (or five) of his talents into a single show. He's currently touring with his long-time bassist Billy Peterson and ...

Radio & Podcasts

Ben Sidran on 50 years in jazz

by Leo Sidran
August 19, 2019

In this podcast, the multifaceted Ben Sidran (my dad) on his 76th birthday, talks about on falling in love with bebop as a young boy, counter culture in the 1960s, jazz as a form of journalism, how to get paid like a musician, his proudest moments, writing a misunderstood rock and roll anthem, getting to Carnegie Hall, facing fears, and what he learned from his heroes (including Mose Allison, Gil Evans, Art Blakey, Horace Silver, Johnny Griffin, and Phil Woods). ...

Bailey's Bundles

Ben Sidran: Renaissance Man

by C. Michael Bailey
January 2, 2019

The only appropriate person to tell the story of Ben Sidran is Ben Sidran. And, that is exactly what he did in his “autobiography/memoir" Ben Sidran: A Life in Music. The book is also the perfect companion to Ben There, Done That: Ben Sidran Live Around the World (1975-2015), a 3-CD retrospective of Sidran performing in a variety of formats that only a Renaissance Man like himself could achieve. Ben Sidran: A Life in Music Ben ...

Catching Up With

Ben Sidran: The First Existential Jazz Rapper

by Joan Gannij
December 11, 2014

Ben Sidran is an old school hipster in the authentic sense of the word. He's a no frills, musician's musician who's got the heart, got the chops. He's been there, done that, and ready to do more. Sidran has never been interested in following trends or squeezing into categories and is not about to start now. “In jazz, they want you to be yourself, but they only want you to be yourself in their category, and if you're not, it ...

Album Review

Ben Sidran: Don't Cry for No Hipster

Read "Don't Cry for No Hipster" reviewed by Luca Muchetti

by Luca Muchetti
March 14, 2014

'Stile' è il primo sostantivo che viene facile utilizzare per descrivere la musica di Ben Sidran. Nome notissimo nella scena americana, cantante, pianista, compositore e fine conoscitore della musica in toto (evitiamo di utilizzare l'etichetta 'jazz' memori anche del non troppo lontano album in tributo a Bob Dylan), con Don't Cry for no Hipster Sidran torna alle atmosfere fumose a lui più care: quattordici canzoni, tante, trovano spazio in un'opera che guarda alla tradizione, intimismi da jazz club e puntate ...