Results for "Leo Sidran"

Leo Sidran

I'm a multi instrumentalist musician, producer, arranger, composer, recording artist, and podcast host.

I was born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin, which is sometimes referred to as 70 square miles surrounded by reality. My father, Ben Sidran, another multifaceted music man, provided my early musical sustenance. My mother, a weaver and travel agent, provided texture and safe passage.

I got my start writing songs professionally as a teenager when the Steve Miller Band recorded four of my songs for their 1993 Wide River album. My father was working with Miller at the time, which is how I made the connection, but even then, at the ripe old age of 15, I was interested in production. So, Steve invited me to play keyboards, guitars and drums on the record.

Nicole Zuraitis Baked Her Own Cake

by Leo Sidran
September 30, 2026

Nicole Zuraitis has spent much of her career being asked (and asking herself) variations of the same question: where do you fit? Is the music jazz? Is it pop? Is it cabaret?Her new album, The Devil I Knew, doesn't exactly settle the question. Instead, it makes the question seem increasingly beside the point.

Sullivan Fortner: The Music Tells You Where to Go

by Leo Sidran
September 16, 2026

It is hard to overstate the exuberance and awe expressed by other musicians when talking about Sullivan Fortner. At under 40 years old, he is one of a small handful of pianists who have moved the instrument and its potential forward. And by doing so, he's demonstrated that innovation can happen from within the tradition of ...

Folk and Futurism with Sofia Rei

by Leo Sidran
September 9, 2026

Argentine singer, composer and producer Sofía Rei talks about leaving Buenos Aires and rediscovering the music of home, moving beyond the boundaries of jazz, embracing electronics and production, and learning from collaborators and students. Her new album, Antónima (GroundUP), brings those threads together through what she calls “Folk and Futurism" a meeting place for tradition, technology ...

Ashley Kahn on the Miracles and Wonder of Paul Simon’s Graceland

by Leo Sidran
August 26, 2026

Forty years ago this month, Paul Simon released Graceland, an album that became one of the defining records of his career, and one of the most celebrated and debated albums of its era.The story famously begins with a cassette of South African township music that Simon couldn't stop listening to. He followed that sound ...

Ben Sidran At 83: “Entropy Is Inevitable, But The Antidote Is Available”

by Leo Sidran
August 19, 2026

Last week my father, Ben Sidran, turned 83rd, and as I do every year, I talked to him for The Third Story podcast.These annual conversations have become a tradition, a way of tracking our relationship, and an artist, over time.Ben is a jazz musician, producer, writer and broadcaster. He was once described ...

Goldings, Bernstein & Stewart on 35 Years Together and Their New Album

by Leo Sidran
August 18, 2026

You can tell a lot about a band by the way they act offstage, how they talk to one another, and even more, how they listen. By the quality of their conversation. It's a useful measure when talking about Larry Goldings, Peter Bernstein, and Bill Stewart, a trio whose history stretches back more than ...

Julieta Venegas Has A Good Memory

by Leo Sidran
May 20, 2026

Julieta Venegas grew up in Tijuana, a city that sits at Mexico's northwestern edge and the United States' southwestern edge. Maybe it makes sense that someone raised in a city suspended between identities would resist fixed categories herself. Julieta Venegas has spent much of her career moving fluidly between musical worlds. Like ...

Dida Pelled Wishes You Would...

by Leo Sidran
May 7, 2026

Dida Pelled became deeply immersed in jazz as a teenager in Tel Aviv, obsessing over guitarists like Grant Green and Wes Montgomery. But when she moved to New York nearly two decades ago, her artistic identity began to expand.In addition to establishing herself as a guitarist on the city's club scene, Pelled gradually stepped ...

Keren Ann: We Are Artists Because Of The Process

by Leo Sidran
January 31, 2026

Keren Ann was born in Israel, spent her early years in the Netherlands, and later moved to France. The daughter of a Russian-Jewish father and a Dutch--Javanese mother, she grew up multilingual and deeply aware that identity, language, and place are always in motion. She began writing songs as a teenager and, by her ...