Results for "Leo Sidran"

Jason Moran: Promoting the Freedom Principles

by Leo Sidran
June 8, 2020

Pianist, composer, conceptual artist Jason Moran on truth versus passion, promoting the “Freedom Principles," America's unfortunate way of forgetting the past, when innovation becomes rhetoric, what it means for African American musicians to move freely “from the stage to the table," the power dynamic in choosing repertoire, coming up in Houston among a generation of jazz ...

Becca Stevens on releasing new music in a pandemic

by Leo Sidran
May 25, 2020

Singer and songwriter Becca Stevens has the ability to make you feel like you know her even when you only know her work. Here she talks about “dancing with the critical voice," looking for silver linings, “the whole money thing" and a newly born pack of baby ducks out her window. Plus she discusses her new ...

Remembering Richie Cole

by Leo Sidran
May 18, 2020

Saxophonist Richie Cole died on May 2, 2020. He lived a jazz life all the way. His playing, his demeanor and his philosophy were all contained in his catchphrase / modus operandi: Alto Madness. This episode revisits conversations with him over the years, as well as recent chats with Janis Siegel and Ben Sidran about their ...

Curtis Stigers on What It Means to Be a Gentleman

by Leo Sidran
April 27, 2020

In this episode, musician, singer, songwriter Curtis Stigers on promoting new music in the midst of a pandemic, what it means to be a gentleman, how hanging out in a hotel lobby in Boise changed his life, which lessons he learned from Michael Brecker and Gene Harris, and the difference between a tie and a cravat. ...

Stop Me If You've Heard It Before: Musicians Telling Jokes

by Leo Sidran
April 20, 2020

What do we need right now in these adverse times? We turn to our spirit guides, our philosopher kings, our rabbis: the musicians. Because although this particular form of adversity is new, musicians have been choosing to feel good in spite of adverse conditions for a long time. In this episode, we explore the ...

The COVID Chronicles, Vol. 1

by Leo Sidran
March 16, 2020

How is Coronavirus impacting the creative class? What happens when musicians lose their primary income overnight? What opportunities are there for creativity in this moment of social distancing? What is the conversation for performing musicians, online creators, and artists? How is it different in countries with a social safety net? Victoria Canal, Jack Conte, ...

Michael League: "Hang on to the little victories"

by Leo Sidran
March 9, 2020

In this podcast interview, composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Michael League talks about Snarky Puppy, the advantages to the American musical perspective ("we are light on our feet"), why “to create something authentic isn't really possible to me," how playing wedding and steak house gigs in Texas taught him about “humility and strengthening the muscles of versatility," ...

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.

Kat Edmonson on the quiet power of having a dream

by Leo Sidran
February 10, 2020

In this podcast interview, singer/songwriter/actress Kat Edmonson details her journey out of the Lone Star State and into the Big Apple, her love of old well-made things, working with Woody Allen and Al Schmitt, listening to Blossom Dearie, loving “the limitations in a room," acting vs singing, her new record Dreamers Do, and not asking permission. ...

Mark Guiliana: Sound Is Everything

by Leo Sidran
January 27, 2020

Drummer Mark Guiliana is having at this very moment a profound influence on the way the drums are played. Here he explains his ideas of coincidental interaction, and proactive repetition ("Repetition is one of the most powerful tools that we have in music and in life," he tells me), the importance of familial relationships with his ...