Results for "Leo Sidran"

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 ...

Chris Potter: What Influences the Influencer?

by Leo Sidran
September 8, 2019

Chris Potter is a supremely influential saxophonist. Downbeat Magazine has called him “one of the most studied (and copied) saxophonists on the planet." In this introspective and philosophical podcast conversation he talks about art, the search for something new, what motivates him today, what he sees as his role, responsibility and contribution to the history of ...

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 ...

Donald Fagen On The Past, Present And Future

by Leo Sidran
August 5, 2019

Donald Fagen on what's so punk about Steely Dan, what's so sweet about bebop, why making his first solo record, The Nightfly was so personally disruptive to him, when he decided to finally grow up, and who he never wants to see again. Plus, behind the scenes stories of making Gaucho, his relationship with Walter Becker, ...

Guitarist Lage Lund on how musicians communicate

by Leo Sidran
June 15, 2019

Rick Margitza on choosing the right note

by Leo Sidran
June 5, 2019

Fred Hersch: Making more out of less

by Leo Sidran
May 29, 2019

In this episode, pianist, composer, educator and recording artist Fred Hersch tells how the scene has changed over the years ("people drink less now"), learning to be gracious ("the audience needs to have their experience independent of how you feel about it"), education ("You can spend $200,000 on a jazz performance degree and not make that ...

Nate Chinen on jazz criticism and the trouble with defining music

by Leo Sidran
May 15, 2019

In this podcast episode, jazz writer and critic Nate Chinen talks about his book Playing Changes, jazz criticism, displaced backbeats, the importance of live music, and the trouble with trying to define what music should and shouldn't be. This is a conversation I've waited a long time to have and it was absolutely worth the wait. ...

Kassa Overall: Living in the Cut between Jazz and Hip Hop

by Leo Sidran
April 24, 2019

Drummer, rapper and producer Kassa Overall speaks about the intersection of jazz and hip-hop, the importance of getting “comfortable with being bored so you can get better at your instrument," the relationship between great drumming and the sounds of nature, how growing up far away from the “scene" gave him a strong sense of personal identity, ...

Meet the Millennial Smooth Jazz Ambassador Cory Wong

by Leo Sidran
March 15, 2019

In this podcast episode guitarist Cory Wong talks about coming up in Minneapolis (he was mentored by Ricky Peterson and drummer Michael Bland), playing with Vulfpeck, disrupting smooth jazz with Dave Koz, commanding the grid, letting “rhythm take the lead," the YouTube effect, the power of a good story, and Thai massage. Along the ...