Shows
The Third Story with Leo Sidran288: Crossing the river - 20 years of "Al otro lado del rio"Twenty years ago, “Al otro lado del río" became the first Spanish-language song to win an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Written by Jorge Drexler in a single day while staying in Madison, Wisconsin, and recorded in a mix of home and studio settings, the song’s journey was as unexpected as its lyrics suggested. At the time, it felt like an anomaly. This year, when “El Mal” from Amelia Perez won the same award, it barely registered as unusual. That alone says something about how much can shift in 20 years—culturally, personally, globally. Here we...2025-05-161h 22
Deep Conversations PodcastA Deep Conversation With Grammy Award Winning Musician And Podcast Host Leo SidranLeo Sidran is a multi instrumentalist musician, producer, arranger, composer, recording artist, and podcast host.The Third Story podcast features long-form interviews with creative people of all types.Their stories of discovery, loss, ambition, identity, improvisation, risk, and reward are deeply moving and compelling for all of us as we embark on our own creative journeys.He was born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin, which is sometimes referred to as 70 square miles surrounded by reality. His father...2025-03-041h 03
The Third Story with Leo Sidran288: Jorge Drexler, 20 Years After an Unexpected Oscar WinTwenty years ago, “Al otro lado del río" became the first Spanish-language song to win an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Written by Jorge Drexler in a single day while staying in Madison, Wisconsin, and recorded in a mix of home and studio settings, the song’s journey was as unexpected as its lyrics suggested. Here we revisit that historic night through conversations with Jorge Drexler, Ana Laan, Amanda Sidran, Ben Sidran, and the song’s co-producer: me. From the song’s humble origins, its Oscar nomination, and the moment when Drexler—barred from performing his own son...2025-03-041h 22
The Third Story with Leo Sidran280: Ben Sidran | The ElectionJust like we did after the 2016 and 2020 elections, I spoke with my dad Ben Sidran this week about the latest presidential election. True to form, it is a conversation that appears to be about one thing but is in fact about many things. What begins as a somber acknowledgement of the election results turns quickly to a sprawling discussion of everything from Will and Ariel Durant’s massive 11-volume work, The Story of Civilization, Seinfeld, The First Council of Nicaea, Irving Berlin, Jack Kerouac, what separates humankind from the rest of the animal kingdom, bottle service at "the p...2024-11-1142 min
Max Ink RadioLeo Sidran Wisconsin stops include father Ben SidranLeo Sidran talks about growing up with music, playing with Steve Miller, Clyde Stubblefield, upcoming shows with his father Ben Sidran, solo shows and new album to be recorded in Madrid with Spanish actress/singer Leonor Watling. Guest: Leo Sidran2024-08-1715 min
All That's JazzSeason 5 Episode 6 Ben & Leo SidranThe best description of Ben Sidran comes from his son, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and fellow podcaster, Leo Sidran: “In a career spanning over fifty years and thirty five records, Ben Sidran has established himself as a philosopher poet. Equally celebrated for his precise, probing writing style as he is for his improvised spoken word jazz raps, he has carved out a truly unique space for himself. The Times of London aptly described Ben as ‘the world’s first existential jazz rapper,’ and The Chicago Sun Times once referred to him as ‘a renaissance man cast adrift in the modern world.’ He is one of...2024-05-2443 min
The Third Story with Leo Sidran272: Ben Sidran on RainmakerIn a career spanning over fifty years and thirty five records, Ben Sidran has established himself as a philosopher poet. Equally celebrated for his precise, probing writing style as he is for his improvised spoken word jazz raps, he has carved out a truly unique space for himself. The Times of London aptly described Ben as “the world’s first existential jazz rapper,” and The Chicago Sun Times once referred to him as “a renaissance man cast adrift in the modern world.” He is one of a kind. And he is, of course, also my dad. There is no one el...2024-04-3052 min
Deep Conversations PodcastA Deep Conversation With Grammy Award Winning Musician And Podcast Host Leo SidranTo learn more about Leo and his music and work, visit http://www.leosidran.comTo learn more about Leo's podcast, visithttp://www.third-story.comLeo Sidran is a multi instrumentalist musician, producer, arranger, composer, recording artist, and podcast host.The Third Story podcast features long-form interviews with creative people of all types.Their stories of discovery, loss, ambition, identity, improvisation, risk, and reward are deeply moving and compelling for all of us as we embark on our own creative journeys.He was born and raised i...2024-03-201h 03
The Third StoryLeo Sidran on ten years of The Third Story podcastHost Leo Sidran reflects on 10 years of his The Third Story podcast and converses with his first guest Will Lee and wife Amanda Sidran about the journey.2024-01-311h 01
The Third Story with Leo Sidran268: Ten Years of The Third Story - with Will Lee and Amanda SidranTen years ago, on a bit of a whim, I invited bassist Will Lee to come over to my home studio in Brooklyn to do an interview with me for a new project I was starting: a podcast. A year or two earlier, my friend Michael Fusco-Straub had turned me on to Marc Maron’s WTF podcast, and I was totally hooked on the concept of casual long form interviews among peers. At the time Maron spoke almost exclusively to comics, and I thought there might be a space for something similar but focused on music. Although I...2024-01-311h 01
PodsongsNOTHING EVER LASTS FOREVER: Professor Alan Lightman inspires jazz musician Leo SidranLeo Sidran speaks to Alan Lightman, American physicist, writer, and social entrepreneur on Episode 141 of Podsongs—the podcast where musicians interview inspirational people as inspiration for a new song—as inspiration for a new song called 'Meaning in the Moment'
Alan Lightman is an American physicist, writer, and social entrepreneur. He has served on the faculties of Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is currently a professor of the practice of the humanities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Leo Sidran is an American Latin Grammy-winning musician, composer, performer, and producer whose credits incl...2023-10-111h 51
The Third Story with Leo Sidran253: Ben Sidran at 80For the fifth consecutive year I interview my father on his birthday. This year he’s turning 80 and I surprise him with reflections and anecdotes by friends and colleagues from throughout his career, including Jeff Greenfield, Boz Scaggs, Jann Wenner, Michael Cuscuna, Phil Upchurch, Georgie Fame, Gil Goldstein, Janis Siegel, Jorge Drexler and many more! www.third-story.com www.patreon.com/thirdstorypodcast https://www.wbgo.org/podcast/the-third-story 2023-08-141h 38
Neon Jazz InterviewsMulti-Instrumentalist, Songwriter, Arranger, Engineer & Producer Leo Sidran on the 2023 CD What's TrendingWelcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Multi Instrumentalist, Songwriter, Arranger, Engineer & Producer Leo Sidran on the 2023 CD What's Trending .. The last time we caught up with Leo was in 2021 when the pandemic was still in full force and things were up in the air .. Now, with a new album, European tour dates, a thriving podcast called The Third Story now featured on the world famous WBGO, Leo is living a grand existence .. He’s a great friend of the program and we get into this album What's Trending that stands as his eighth so...2023-06-2330 minAll That's JazzSeason 4 Episode 3 Leo SidranGRAMMY award winning Leo Sidran is a multi instrumentalist on drums, percussion, bass, guitars, keyboards, piano and vibraphone. He’s a lead and backing vocalist, producer, arranger, composer, recording artist, and podcast host of ‘The Third Story’ who - in his spare time - just released his 8th solo album titled ‘What’s Trending.’
There is so much to this mind bogglingly diverse man that one episode simply isn’t enough, so look for a “to be continued” in the future. But for now, Leo and I chose to focus on the rich backstory of ‘What’s Trending.’ It’s a fast-paced...2023-03-3141 min
Neon Jazz InterviewsJazz Multi-Instrumentalist, Producer, Composer, & Podcaster Leo SidranWelcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Jazz Multi Instrumentalist, Producer, Arranger and Podcaster Leo Sidran – In a very open conversation, he spoke about his latest 2018 CD – Cool School featuring the Music of Michael Franks and growing up as the son of the legendary music man and jazz interviewer Ben Sidran in Madison, Wisconsin .. He delved into quite a bit about his life .. like his start in music by writing songs professionally as a teenager for the Steve Miller Band and many more tales, tributaries and journeies ..
---
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/s...2022-12-2936 min
The Third Story with Leo Sidran238: Best of The Third Story on The Art of the Story, 2022A collection of Art of the Story pieces for WBGO News by Leo Sidran / The Third Story Podcast from 2022, including coverage of the Montreal and Umbria jazz festivals (featuring Dave King, Julian Lage, Samara Joy, Matt Pierson, Terence Higgins, Gregory Porter, Kurt Elling, Dave Koz and more) as well as short profiles on Lau Noah, Michael Thurber, Tomasz Stanko, Tyshawn Sorey, Jesse Harris, Jorge Drexler, Christian McBride and Larry Goldings. www.third-story.comwww.patreon.com/thirdstorypodcast https://www.wbgo.org/podcast/the-third-story2022-12-2739 min
Behind the NotesEpisode 1: Ben & Leo Sidran Neranenah’s Joe Alterman has a fascinating conversation with two true renaissance men: musician, producer, arranger, composer, and podcast host Leo Sidran, and his iconic father - legendary writer, pianist, journalist, and producer Ben Sidran. Ben’s book “There Was A Fire: Jews, Music & The American Dream” has been an inspiration and guiding light for the entire Neranenah organization.2022-08-181h 04
The Third Story with Leo Sidran230: Ben Sidran at 79For the fourth year in a row, I talked to my dad, musician/producer/journalist/philosopher Ben Sidran in honor of his birthday. This time he’s turning 79 and we consider the sociological implications of mowing the lawn, Donald Fagen’s solo recordings, the significance of the 1960s in popular culture today, Pharoah Sanders album Pharoah’s First, interviews he conducted in the 1980s with Miles Davis and Sonny Rollins, the myth of Sisyphus, and his most recent album Swing State. www.third-story.com www.patreon.com/thirdstorypodcast www.wbgo.org/studios www.bensidran.com2022-08-1448 min
Music LifeMusic is abstract, lyrics are concrete, with Elvis Costello, Marisa Monte, Jorge Drexler and Leo SidranElvis Costello, Marisa Monte, Jorge Drexler and Leo Sidran discuss how to create emotional lyrics, shouting to make yourself heard, arriving at the idea of a song through its title, competing with the scale of music, and working in multiple languages.Elvis Costello is a singer, songwriter, and producer who has sold millions of records both as a solo artist and with his amazing bands. His diverse genres and thoughtful lyrics have earned him various accolades including two Grammys, and an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Marisa Monte is widely recognized...2022-06-0341 min
The Third Story with Leo SidranThe Art Of Aging GracefullyAdvice from friends and family ranging in age from 10 to 93 about how to stay young, what makes a meaningful life, ambition, desire, fear, success and music. With Sol Sidran, age 10Zelta Sils, age 10Zane Gruber Baruth, age 21Michael Thurber, age 34Michael Leonhart, age 47Jorge Drexler, age 57Daniel Levitin, age 63Gil Goldstein, age 71Ben Sidran, age 78Howard S. Becker, age 93 www.third-story.com2021-11-271h 40
The Third Story with Leo SidranBen Sidran at 78For the third year in a row, I talked to my dad, musician/producer/journalist/philosopher Ben Sidran in honor of his birthday. This time he’s turning 78, and we consider the “buddhist roots of jazz”, joy and pain, Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer, the final recordings of Lester Young, saxophonist Willis Jackson’s 1978 album Bar Wars, drummer Nate Smith’s latest record, how you know when you’re old, and the story of the Baal Shem Tov. www.third-story.com www.bensidran.com www.patreon.com/thirdstorypodcast2021-08-1438 min
MONSIEUR JAZZMAN®Monsieur Jazzman®WEEKEND™ LEO SIDRAN, compositor y vocalist de jazz – “The Art Of Conversation”Cuando el productor, cantante, compositor y multi-instrumentista ganador del Grammy, LEO SIDRAN, escribió la canción "Trying Times" que forma parte de nuestra selección, a principios del 2020, no tenía idea de lo profética que resultaría…. Porque esa canción, como el propio Leo, se sentó en algún lugar entre el jazz, el cantautor y la música pop, y habló simplemente de la complejidad del momento, con estos términos: "Tienes que reír para no llorar, pero no es tan divertido, estos son tiempos difíciles . " dijo.
Luego vino el Covid 19 y Leo Sidran se instaló en la...2021-08-0159 min
Talk Music Talk with boiceTMT 229: Leo SidranSinger/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Leo Sidran’s new studio album, The Art of Conversation, is a knowing wink to his interview podcast, The Third Story. In its 7th year, the podcast continues to celebrate the creative mind with long form conversations from the likes of Donald Fagen, Boz Scaggs, Butch Vig...and yours truly. The engaging interviewer helped me celebrate my 200th Talk Music Talk episode in 2019. The Art of Conversation is Leo’s follow-up to his Michael Franks’ tribute album, Cool School. [This episode features "Pop" and "The Art of Conversation" from The Art of Conversation in their entire...2021-05-291h 51
The Third Story with Leo SidranNoga ErezIsraeli singer Noga Erez thinks about the fallacy of authenticity, the advantages of creative limitations, the way personal stories can be perceived as political, and what it means to make music with your heart instead of your head. She started out as a jazz singer, performing and recording her original songs with a piano trio. Those recordings are long gone, lost in a pile of defective hard drives. But anyway, she decided that her original concept was too intellectual and that it was time to make something more intuitive. Encouraged by her musical (and personal) partner Ori R...2020-08-311h 28
The Third Story with Leo SidranBen SidranFor the second year in a row, I talk to my dad, musician/producer/journalist/philosopher Ben Sidran in honor of his birthday. This time he’s turning 77, and we consider his recent projects, including the books The Ballad of Tommy LiPuma and There Was A Fire: Jews, Music and the American Dream, and his latest single “Who’s The Old Guy Now”. Of course these are atypical times, and so this is an atypical episode, in which we discuss being alive on the planet in Covidtimes, watching livestream jazz, getting older, the difference between Troubadours, Shamans and Griot...2020-08-1440 min
The Third Story with Leo SidranEric KrasnoEric Krasno is in a lot more places than one might realize. Known for his work with the bands Soulive and Lettuce, he also works with all kinds of groups as a player - including the Tedeschi Trucks Band, Phil Lesh and Friends, Oteil Burbridge and Friends...it’s a lot of friends. Maybe that’s because he has one foot in the jam band world: the universe of extended grooves, risky riffing and close contact with a community of fans. What surprised me about Eric is how much stuff he actually does - he’s part frontma...2020-08-111h 31
The Third Story with Leo SidranJochen RueckertDrummer Jochen Rueckert has some things to get off his chest. Born and raised outside of Cologne, Germany, Rueckert started coming to New York as soon as he possibly could. By the time he was in his early 20s, he was already well into paying his dues. He can be heard on over 120 albums and worked or recorded with musicians and bands such as the Marc Copland Trio, the Kurt Rosenwinkel new quartet, the Mark Turner Band, the Melissa Aldana trio, the Sam Yahel trio, John Abercrombie, Pat Metheny (he tells that story here), Matt P...2020-07-311h 42
The Third Story with Leo SidranRudresh MahanthappaRudresh Mahanthappa has the kind of biography that suggests he might be an intimidating and serious person to talk to. He’s the Director of Jazz at Princeton University where he teaches improvisation and directs small groups. He has been listed frequently in the Critics' Poll of Down Beat magazine. He studied music in India and brought that exploration into his own style of hybridized jazz (done in part for a Guggenheim Fellowship), an experience that he describes “as a way of getting to know what it means to be Indian American, it was a way of defining where I am...2020-06-301h 05
The Third Story with Leo SidranLawrenceBrother and sister Clyde and Gracie Lawrence say that they’ve been professional musicians all their lives, they just weren’t always making money at it. Raised around creative people (their mother is a dancer and their father a film director), Clyde and Gracie were encouraged to be creative from the very start. So it’s no real surprise that at a very young age, they began making hip, accessible, fun, and deeply satisfying music together that walks the line between soul, funk, pop, and “Seinfeld”. Whatever you call it, their music has been the soundtrack...2020-06-211h 37
The Third Story with Leo SidranLouise GoffinSinger-songwriter Louise Goffin says she is “uncomfortable with nostalgia”. Louise Goffin says that “in order to take care of the world, you have to take care of your inner soul.” Louise Goffin says “don’t believe everything you think.” Her new record Two Different Movies was co-produced by Louise and Dave Way, and features a long list of incredible musicians and collaborators. Our conversation itself is kind of like two different movies. One of them deals with an independent songwriter, with a decades long career (she made her first record at 18). The other explores what it was like to grow u...2020-06-141h 23
The Third Story with Leo SidranJason MoranI can’t think of anyone I would rather talk to right now than Jason Moran. Here we consider so much about history, and so much about the present moment in our country. The conversation is as deep as it is wide, and along the way Jason considers truth versus passion, promoting the “Freedom Principle”, America’s unfortunate way of forgetting the past, what happens when innovation becomes rhetoric, what it means for African American musicians to move freely “from the stage to the table”, the power dynamic within choosing repertoire, how Thelonious Monk and KRS-1 are similar, coming up in Housto...2020-06-051h 19
The Third Story with Leo SidranOrlando le FlemingOrlando le Fleming is the kind of bass player who possesses that mysterious element, that sound, that groove, that thing that you want to hook up with. Maybe that’s why some of the finest drummers in jazz have chosen Orlando to play in their groups - he logged serious miles playing with Jeff “Tain” Watts, Ari Hoenig, and Antonio Sanchez - three of the most influential drummers alive. And an early recording project with Jimmy Cobb helped to position Orlando as a bass player to know about. He’s also a bass player that singers like to work...2020-05-201h 31
The Third Story with Leo SidranRichie ColeSaxophonist 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. “He was devoted to the bebop lifestyle,” says his old friend Janis Siegel. But he was also torn between impulses to be a serious musician operating on the highest level, and to be an entertainer and make people happy. My dad interviewed Richie in 1985. I interviewed Richie in 2017. I interviewed my dad yesterday to bring it full circle. In this episode we revisit all three o...2020-05-121h 10
The Third Story with Leo SidranBecca StevensBecca Stevens is a singer, songwriter, teacher and genuinely lovely person, and also one of the few repeat offenders on the Third Story Podcast. I first talked to her in 2015 and I remember our conversation as being truly connected, candid and comfortable. We had never met before but I left the experience feeling that we were genuinely friends. She has that thing about her that makes you feel like you know her even when you only know her work. Becca’s new record, Wonderbloom, came out last month just as the world began to shelter in place, an...2020-05-041h 10
The Third Story with Leo SidranJosh Norek (Hip Hop Hoodios)Josh Norek is a difficult man to define. He is generally a behind the scenes kind of guy - president of Regalías Digitales (a firm that helps hundreds of Latin recording artists collect their music royalties and license their songs to film and television productions), co-founder of the Latin Alternative Music Conference (LAMC), co-host of the nationally syndicated public radio show ‘The Latin Alternative,’ former VP of Nacional Records, artist manager, music attorney. Then again sometimes he’s an in-front of the scenes kind of guy, like with his group Hip Hop Hoodios, which he describes as “prob...2020-04-2825 min
The Third Story with Leo SidranRon SexsmithRon Sexsmith likes to take walks. “I was a courier for a number of years and I wrote most of the songs on my first couple albums on the job,” he says “Whenever you’re doing something that’s kind of mindless, then your mind is free to roam. For me it’s a good way to zero in on what I’m trying to say.” Very few songwriters develop the kind of skill and status that Ron Sexsmith has. He’s a songwriter’s songwriter. He writes the songs that the rest of us wish we were writing. He does...2020-04-2358 min
The Third Story with Leo SidranCurtis StigersCurtis Stigers got his big break as a young man in the early 90s, with a top ten pop hit (1991’s “Wonder Why”), followed by a series of soul-pop records. Around that time he also recorded a version of Nick Lowe’s “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding” for The Bodyguard soundtrack, which sold in the 10s of millions of copies. That is to say, Curtis got his start in the deep of the pool, swimming with the sharks. Stigers has a soulful voice, a direct approach to storytelling both as a songwriter and an interpreter...2020-04-171h 04
The Third Story with Leo Sidran157: The Covid Chronicles, Vol. 4What is needed 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 nature of the musician joke, particularly the jazz musician joke. Jokes about gigs, drummers, singers, trombone players, viola players, junkies, 3 legged pigs, bagpipes, bar mitzvahs, African safaris, little old ladies, family therapy, tattoo parlors, monkeys, genies, it’s all here. In other words, the classics. F...2020-04-0749 min
The Third Story with Leo Sidran156: The Covid Chronicles, Vol. 3Since the very beginning of this podcast, my father (Ben Sidran) and I have been having occasional, timely conversations to process our own shared experience and often the experience of the world around us. Here we are again, contemplating the future after Covid-19, considering the consequences, and wondering what jazz has to do with it (and what it has to do with jazz). www.third-story.com www.patreon.com/thirdstorypodcast www.bensidran.com2020-03-2420 min
The Third Story with Leo SidranThe Covid Chronicles, Vol. 2A life in the theater must be a pretty serious thing, because in these conversations with members of the Broadway community, the conversations are brutally real, big picture, somewhat cosmic and profound. André De Shields, Dale Franzen, Michael Thurber, Schele Williams and Rob Jost all weigh in on the fate of the Great White Way. Meanwhile, original music for this episode is culled from Instagram and Facebook. Short (and unknowing) contributions from Cecile McLorin Salvant and Sullivan Fortner, Martin Leiton, Doug Wamble and Morgan James, Dan Zanes, Louis Cato, Pasquale Grasso, Victoria Canal, Trevor Exter, Be...2020-03-191h 27
The Third Story with Leo SidranThe Covid Chronicles, Vol. 1How is the 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, Joe Dart, Joy Dragland, John Ellis, Ari Herstand, Ryan Keberle, Andrew Leib, Adam Levy, Lage Lund, and Gege Telesforo all weigh in. Original Music by Charlie Hunter (from his Instagram Livestream on March 13). www.third-story.com www.patreon.com/thirdstorypodcast 2020-03-141h 31
The Third Story with Leo SidranMichael LeagueMichael League is learning how to sleep. A friend sent him a book called Why We Sleep and reading it “rang a lot of bells”. Until recently, he says, “the majority of my rationale for not sleeping was about guilt. Saying it out loud I realize how ridiculous it is.” Then again, he’s responsible for a lot of creative output, and he feels “a lot of pressure”. Michael is a composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. He is the founder and leader of the band Snarky Puppy, and the international music ensemble Bokanté. He’s also an owner and founder of the...2020-03-061h 17
The Third Story with Leo SidranBob PowerWhat do A Tribe Called Quest, David Byrne, The Roots, D’Angelo, Pat Metheny, Erykah Badu, Jason Moran, Me’Shell N’degéocello, India.Arie, J Dilla, Run DMC, and Theo Croker have in common? They all benefited from the sound of Bob Powers’ recording, mixing or production. Bob has had a profound effect on the sound of Hip Hop and modern music in general. Despite the fact that he says “I learned early on from working in television that if someone notices your work, you’re probably screwed,” I did notice what he was doing and I think a lot of...2020-02-231h 07
The Third Story with Leo SidranVictoria CanalVictoria Canal is a 21-year old Spanish-American, LGBTQ, differently-abled, singer-songwriter with a massively powerful message of diversity, inclusion, and belonging. Everything about Victoria is completely exceptional - from her life experience to her demeanor and her talent - and at the same time maybe her greatest gift is her empathic, generous spirit. She’s just a good listener and incredibly seems to make people comfortable to be who they are. She released an EP in 2016 called Into The Pull and a series of singles since then that have racked up millions of Spotify streams. She’s set to r...2020-02-161h 12
The Third Story with Leo SidranKat EdmonsonKat Edmonson will tell you that, “A lot of the time we don’t need permission to do great things.” Kat Edmonson will say, “There are certain things we know about ourselves and we get in our own way assuming that there’s some gate we have to go through to be recognized to then finally say I’m allowed to do this now.” Kat Edmonson will tell you that “There’s a quiet power in merely having a dream.” Kat Edmonson knows of what she speaks. She is a dreamer, a romantic who knew she was dest...2020-02-071h 12The Third Story with Leo SidranMark HerveyVideo editor, bass player, recovering sketch comedy and improv player Mark Hervey on the journey that took him flying “too close to the sun”... twice. Along the way, he discusses why video editing is like playing bass (if it’s very noticeable, you’re probably doing too much), the alt comedy scene in New York in the 90s, what to do when the best work of your life goes uncredited, and how “death has no satisfactory resolution”. It's a real deep dive. www.third-story.com www.patreon.com/thirdstorypodcast2020-02-021h 22
The Third Story with Leo SidranMark GuilianaMark Guiliana is having at this very moment a profound influence on the way the drums are played. There’s a conversation happening in his playing between organic, traditional sounds and electronic music. Part of his innovation is to get his acoustic drums sounding more electronic, and to approach the drums in some ways as though he were a dj or a programmer. Mark was born and raised in New Jersey, and until six months ago he lived there. Now he lives in LA. But he was in New York for the Winter Jazzfest - he was the...2020-01-2351 min
The Third Story with Leo SidranGilles Peterson & Kassa OverallGilles Peterson is one of the most influential DJs and music curators in the world. Whether as a broadcaster, live DJ, record producer, festival organizer, or music curator, Peterson has devoted his life to finding, contextualizing, and presenting music from around the world. He sees his job as “connecting the dots.” One of Peterson’s most recent discoveries, Kassa Overall is, in the words of Time Out New York, “a Renaissance man: part chopsy, super-funky jazz drummer, and part rising producer-MC.” www.third-story.com www.patreon.com/thirdstorypodcast 2020-01-211h 11
The Third Story with Leo SidranSteven Bernstein, Peter Apfelbaum, Will BernardSteven Bernstein, Peter Apfelbaum and Will Bernard are all innovative, creative and boundary pushing musicians who are equally at home in the avant garde as they are in the swamp. It comes as no surprise that they grew up together in Berkeley, California, exploring the edges of the music they loved, finding “controlled substances” in their parents’ freezers, and improvising freely. We recorded this conversation at the Winter Jazzfest in New York. Here they talk about looking forward, looking back, the musical concept of opposition, defying category, broken mirrors, free improvisation, why coffee is so expensive and music...2020-01-1657 min
The Third Story with Leo Sidran145: Caleb HawleyHere is what Caleb Hawley says about himself in his website biography: Caleb Hawley is a Harlem based, Minneapolis-raised singer, songwriter, and producer who has been shoveling Gobstoppers into ears for the past decade. Combining catchy melodies with dark and satirical lyrics, one has to be careful not to slip while dancing in a puddle of their own tears. I don’t know about the Gobstoppers, but the rest of it feels pretty accurate to me. In our conversation he tells his journey of self discovery, addiction, creativity, Tourette Syndrome, longing, how telling the truth is...2020-01-101h 15
The Third Story with Leo SidranAri HerstandWhen Ari Herstand first came on the Third Story Podcast in 2016, he was still in the process of becoming. He struggled with the what he saw as a “duality” between being a musician / performing artist and a business person. Would success in one realm undermine success in the other? “I got to the point where I have accepted that I am equally both,” he tells me now. “Success is very personal and nobody can really define success for you,” he says. And Ari has spent much of the last decade examining many of the biggest successes in the independe...2020-01-021h 14
The Third Story with Leo SidranGlyn JohnsLegendary recording engineer and producer Glyn Johns’ career and discography are so extensive that it’s very difficult to summarize quickly. The sound of his recordings has had an immeasurable influence on the way we listen to popular music, particularly Rock and Roll. The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Beatles, Eric Clapton... he worked with them all. Here he talks about his philosophy of recording, producing, and managing a career in record making. www.third-story.comwww.patreon.com/thirdstorypodcast www.glynjohns.com2019-12-251h 17
The Third Story with Leo Sidranboiceboice-Terrel Allen (better known simply as boice) is a podcast host, musician, and writer. His podcast, Talk Music Talk, started in 2014 and features long form conversations with musicians, authors, music psychotherapists and meditation teachers, DJs, musicologists, MacArthur Fellows, Grammy nominees and such from all musical genres. In 2019 he started his second podcast, The Strandcast, a literary podcast from the Strand Bookstore featuring author interviews, reading recommendations and literary horoscopes. To celebrate the 200th episode of Talk Music Talk, here the tables are turned and he lays out his personal and professional development, creativity, spirituality, Buddhism...2019-12-191h 17
Talk Music Talk with boiceTMT 200: Leo Sidran Interviews boice-Terrel AllenOn this very special episode of Talk Music Talk, the interviewer gets interviewed for his 200th podcast!!! boice hands over the reins to fellow podcaster and musician Leo Sidran. Leo is the host of The Third Story podcast which features longform conversations with “creative people of all types.” Leo pulls out both the personal and the professional from boice in this 80-minute conversation. boice has never talked so much! They discuss creativity, spirituality, Buddhism, depression, perseverance and of course, Tina Turner! Also, boice talks about his music, books and the genesis of Talk Music Talk five years ago. Plus, you'll...2019-12-181h 27
The Third Story with Leo SidranZev FeldmanZev Feldman is an independent record producer who got started in the jazz business as a young man (in his early 20s) and came up through the ranks of sales (“schlepping a bag of CDs”), merchandising, marketing, distribution - all of the pieces of the business as it existed at the end of the last century. Over time he came to settle comfortably in an area of the jazzosphere that focuses on locating, unearthing and releasing previously unknown recordings. Some people know him as “the jazz detective.” Variety magazine called him “possibly the most widely admired archival producer working in the jaz...2019-12-1047 min
The Third Story with Leo SidranWoody GossVulpeck keyboardist Woody Goss on his early days growing up in the suburbs of Chicago where he learned to elevate rhythm playing to high art, when he connected with the crew that would become his Vulf family at the University of Michigan, how talking about evolutionary psychology is emotional, why organized religion is dubious, where he likes to go bird watching, and who he really is when the spotlight is turned away. This conversation is surprisingly provocative, enlightening, and funny. Woody is not entirely as he appears to be. He is, in fact, much more. www.third-story...2019-11-281h 03
The Third Story with Leo SidranALA.NIWhen ALA.NI was growing up in West London, she wanted to be a ballerina. Eventually she realized that there were almost no black ballerinas and the message that was sent to her quietly but consistently was that there would be no easy place for her in the world of ballet. She started to sing. She loved musicals, especially The Sound Of Music, & Grease. Again and again, she was told that she didn’t sound “black enough” because she was so influenced by Julie Andrews and Judy Garland. Too black to dance, not black enough to sin...2019-11-141h 15
The Third Story with Leo SidranCamila MezaSinger-songwriter-guitarist Camila Meza on growing up in Chile, the nature of translation, improvisation, self observation, bootleg videotapes, identity, cruise ship living, synesthesia and distortion. www.third-story.com www.patreon.com/thirdstorypodcast www.camilameza.com2019-10-301h 12
The Third Story with Leo SidranRyan ScottThe world is full of talented people you’ve never heard of, and it’s quite possible that Ryan Scott is one of them. Around New York, if you know about Ryan Scott, then you know. “Ryan Scott?” Enough said. Funky? Oh yes. Soulful? Unquestionably. Prepared to surrender himself totally to the music and the moment at all times? Affirmative. But if you don’t know, it can be difficult to catch up. Ryan Scott doesn’t make it too easy to find him. He claims it’s not intentional. “You just have to know the right people,” he tells...2019-10-161h 09
The Third Story with Leo SidranJeremy Dauber on Jewish comedyWhen Adam Sandler first sang his “Hannukah Song” on SNL in 1994, even he was surprised by the overwhelmingly enthusiastic response it received. He was singing something we all understood even if we didn’t know the details: The Jewish contribution to American comedy and entertainment is significant, undeniable, indelible. And the American contribution to global popular culture in the last century is equally palpable. So… what? One question to ask is, is the Jewish comedy of today related in any way to the Jewish comedy of yesterday? And if so, how? Are there themes in Jewish comedy that go...2019-10-011h 01
The Third Story with Leo SidranPeter HimmelmanPeter Himmelman had momentum. Before he had a decades long career, videos on MTV (back when there were videos on MTV), Grammy and Emmy nominations, Parents Choice Awards, critical acclaim, a family, TV and movie scores… before any of that, he had momentum. Peter came out swinging, with something prove and something to offer. He was motivated in part by what he describes here as a “reigning sense of isolation”. He grew up in a Minneapolis suburb and came of age in the 70’s at a time when funk and punk were both beginning to flourish and “children w...2019-09-241h 20
The Third Story with Leo SidranRichard J. DavidsonRichard J. Davidson had an intuition early on that the mind was fundamental to human experience. As a child of the 60s he believed early on that “if we wanted to promote a different way of seeing the world, we needed to change our minds.” At the same time that he began to dabble in meditation and mind training, he also became a serious student and began a path that ultimately became his life’s work. He is the founder and chair of the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. As Davidson explains it, the...2019-09-1754 min
The Third Story with Leo SidranChris PotterChris Potter is an incredibly influential saxophone player. Downbeat Magazine has called him “one of the most studied (and copied) saxophonists on the planet”. In this introspective and philosophical 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 jazz. www.third-story.com www.patreon.com/thirdstorypodcast https://www.chrispottermusic.com/ 2019-09-021h 11
The Third Story with Leo SidranDavid MaranissDavid Maraniss has a motto: go there. What he means is that when he’s researching one of his books, whether it’s a biography of a person or the history of a place and time, he believes that in order to fully understand the story, he has to go to the physical location. Not, like, just for a weekend. He really goes there. He moves in. But there’s another meaning behind the phrase “go there”. He moves in, not only to the space, but also to the nuance, subtlety, complexity of a life, of a time, of th...2019-08-231h 04
The Third Story with Leo SidranBen SidranMusician, singer, writer, producer, philosopher... Ben Sidran is a hard person to define. He belongs in multiple categories, or none at all. He says that his main focus throughout a career that began 50 years ago has been to document what he saw, felt, and heard, by way of various “idioms” (including performances, interviews, essays, recordings, etc.). That’s why he sees himself primarily as a journalist. Or at least, he sees what he does as a form of journalism. I’ve been engaged in a series of conversations - one long conversation really - with Ben Sidran since bef...2019-08-151h 01
The Third Story with Leo SidranRichard JulianNo matter what Richard Julian is doing, he “just wants it to be awesome”. As a songwriter, he says he was arrogant before he probably deserved to be, and in fact that it “took years to get beaten into the submission of humility.” That may be so, but along the way he wrote some pretty fantastic songs. His album Slow New York (2006) helped to put him on the map and place him squarely in the center of the musical scene from which Norah Jones had emerged a few years earlier. In fact he and Jones still have a country band tog...2019-08-081h 12
The Third Story with Leo SidranDonald FagenJust when you think you know all there is to know about Donald Fagen, he surprises you. There are legendary stories, traded like playing cards in chat rooms, fanzines, and merch lines. Along with his musical partner, the late Walter Becker (who passed away in 2017), Fagen has influenced countless musicians, producers and songwriters by setting the gold standard in record production and arrangement with his band Steely Dan. This is known. There are the solo records, including The Nightfly, which was nominated for seven Grammys and which continues to be one of the best sounding records ever made nearly 30...2019-07-301h 22The Third Story with Leo SidranJoey DosikAs a younger man Joey Dosik thought he might make a contribution on the saxophone. He loved playing basketball and playing piano too, and he had a sweet, soulful singing voice. But if you asked him he probably would have told you that he was going to be a jazz sax player. That’s what took him out of LA and to the University of Michigan. Sometimes the stars align and the right people show up in the right place at just the right time. Later on we realize that something special was going on, but in the...2019-07-081h 10The Third Story with Leo SidranBen Thornewill (Jukebox The Ghost)Singer, songwriter and pianist Ben Thornewill started his band, Jukebox The Ghost, with two friends in 2003 when he was in college at George Washington University. “From day one we were just kind of making it up,” he says. He adds “It’s the same three members from the very beginning and everything is a series of great compromises.” Not that there’s anything wrong with that. He says, “It tends out to work out to something that defines who we are.” The power pop trio features piano, guitar, and drums. Their songs are clever, catchy, poppy, joyful, sometimes dramat...2019-06-2557 min
The Third Story with Leo SidranAndre De ShieldsWhen the 73 year old performer Andre De Shields accepted his Tony award last night for his role as Hermes in the hit Broadway show Hadestown, he began with these words: “Baltimore, Maryland are you in the house? I hope you’re watching at home because I am making good on my promise that I would come to New York and become someone you’d be proud to call your native son.” In this conversation, recorded in 2014, he tells the story in detail about growing up in Baltimore (he calls himself “lucky number nine”), a career spanning five decades “on...2019-06-101h 26
The Third Story with Leo SidranEli "Paperboy" ReedEli Reed took a trip. It started in a Boston suburb with a cheap suit and a paperboy cap. He took his suit, cap and guitar to Clarksdale, Mississippi. He stayed there just long enough to become a local musician. They called him “Paperboy” because of the cap. Then he headed up to Chicago and pretended to study sociology at the University of Chicago. While he was pretending to study, what he was really doing was looking for old records to play on his radio show, and becoming the minister of music at a church on the south side. Afte...2019-06-061h 30
The Third Story with Leo SidranMelissa ClarkIf Melissa Clark is in your life already, then she needs little introduction. Maybe you have one of the 40+ cookbooks that she has authored. Maybe you’ve made one of the recipes from her New York Times column “A Good Appetite”, watched one of her cooking videos online, seen her on the Today Show, as a guest judge on Iron Chef America, or heard her as a guest host on The Splendid Table radio show. If you’re one of these people, then you may already consider Melissa Clark to be a kind of honorary member of your family already...2019-05-231h 07
The Third Story with Leo SidranAnya MarinaAnya Marina was the hottest DJ on the hottest radio station in San Diego. She had a natural, direct and conversational way of talking on the mic that made her a perfect fit for FM radio, she was a witty improviser, and she was fearless in the face of celebrity. Plus from an early age, she loved comedy and had even considered a career in comedic acting. She could see her life laid out ahead of her. The only problem was, it wasn’t the life she wanted. So she walked away from her career in radio fo...2019-05-141h 12
The Third Story with Leo SidranSophie AusterSophie Auster grew up in a house of writers (her father is Paul Auster, and her mother is Siri Hustvedt, both acclaimed authors). For Sophie, the creative process always “was quite normal”. As she saw it, “artists are everywhere.” So it was somewhat inevitable that she began a creative career when she was a child, first as an actress, then as a singer and songwriter. Her latest record, Next Time took her to Sweden to work with producer Tore Johansson. Sophie describes the songwriting on the project as an exercise in “archetypes of men and women depicted in the cult...2019-05-0133 min
The Third Story with Leo SidranKassa OverallKassa Overall will tell you, “I love being the first thing of a thing. It’s one of my favorite things.” Kassa will also tell you that grew up in the cut. Between two kinds of music. Between two neighborhoods, in Seattle, that were “actually divided and separated”. He related more to the black neighborhood that he lived in, but he went to school mostly with white kids. “Looking back on it now I realize we’re all from the same stuff” but at the time it felt like he was in the middle of two worlds. In fact...2019-04-161h 32
The Third Story with Leo SidranCory WongGuitarist Cory Wong wants you to know that “smooth-jazz” is not a dirty word. At least not as he sees it. That’s why he started referring to himself as the “millennial smooth jazz ambassador”. Cory comes from Minneapolis and got his start working with many of the great Minneapolis funk musicians who worked with Prince; they showed him the ways of the funk. It’s a deep and very special legacy. Cory is an infectious performer, with incredible energy and positivity on stage. One night a half dozen years ago, some young musicians from Michigan wer...2019-03-121h 13The Third Story with Leo SidranJacques Schwarz-BartJacques Schwarz-Bart says that he never fit neatly into any one category. He says, “I knew early on in my life that I could not go down a regular path. It would be hard for other human beings to totally accept me the way I am.” From the very start, Jacques’ life was unusual. Born in the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe to a pair of writers (his mother the Guadeloupean novelist Simone Schwarz-Bart and his father, the French-Jewish writer and intellectual André Schwarz-Bart.) The family traveled widely, living in Senegal, Switzerland, and Goyave, Guadeloupe. Young Jacques was an ex...2019-02-191h 05The Third Story with Leo SidranAaron ParksHow does pianist Aaron Parks describe himself? “A bit odd. I play piano, write songs, and take pictures of doors with my phone.” Raised on a small island near Seattle, Washington, Aaron found himself hungry for more creative and intellectual stimulation than his immediate surroundings could offer. He enrolled in college at the age of 14, studying music, math and computer science. It wasn’t long before he dropped the math and computer stuff and focused on music; he moved to New York at age 16 to study at the Manhattan School of Music, and by age 18 he was playin...2019-02-051h 10The Third Story with Leo SidranKenny WernerKenny Werner might try to talk you out of becoming a jazz musician. “Please don’t become a jazz musician just because you think you should. That’s like saying you think you should become a typewriter salesman. Nobody needs you. I would do everything I could to talk them out of it and if they couldn’t be talked out of it then I would say go for it. It’s got to be a thing of extreme love because it doesn’t make any sense otherwise.” For Kenny, playing piano always came easily. Even as a young boy gr...2019-01-181h 17
The Third Story with Leo SidranFred HerschPianist, composer, educator and recording artist Fred Hersch has been proclaimed “the most arrestingly innovative pianist in jazz over the last decade” by Vanity Fair, “an elegant force of musical invention” by The L.A. Times, and “a living legend” by The New Yorker. He tells me, “I’m 63. I’ve been playing 2, 5 and 1 for 45 years. I don’t know many people that can go to work after 45 years and say that they’re really looking forward to it. As long as I can keep my physical skills intact, I’m gonna keep going until I can’t go anymore.” Kee...2019-01-041h 03The Third Story with Leo SidranRick MargitzaAs a boy in Detroit, Michigan, Rick Margitza’s mother asked him “do you want to hear a recording of your grandfather playing cello”? Then she put on the Charlie Parker with Strings album. After hearing Charlie Parker play, Rick knew that he wanted to be a jazz saxophone player. Margitza’s paternal grandfather, a Hungarian Gypsy violinist, taught him to play the violin at the age of four. His father also played violin with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (and recorded on classic Motown sessions). So it was almost inevitable that Rick would be a musician, and he was d...2018-12-2158 minThe Third Story with Leo SidranJoe DartJoe Dart was on his way to Boston. He had enrolled in the Berklee College of music - a somewhat inevitable step for the young, very talented bass player from rural Michigan who loved funk and soul music. Although he had already been performing regularly in and around his home of Harbor Spriannngs, Michigan, he knew he would have to get out of town to achieve his goal of being a touring and recording bass player. But he didn’t go. Something kept him in Michigan and at the last minute he changed his plans and decided to move to...2018-12-071h 20The Third Story with Leo SidranJohn FieldsJohn Fields was a normal kid growing up in a normal family in the Boston suburbs, in prime position to take over his father’s hosiery business. Instead, he moved to Minneapolis straight after high school to hang out with his uncle Steve Greenberg, whose hit “Funkytown” had been a huge international success. Fields quickly became his uncle’s right hand man, learning the ropes as an engineer, producer, and bass spanker. His band Greazy Meal was a mainstay on the Minneapolis scene in the 1990s, and his early record production work earned him a reputation as an enthu...2018-11-121h 59The Third Story with Leo SidranJohn LeventhalJohn Leventhal thinks his initial, preanalytical ideas are the good ones. John Leventhal realized that there “really is no daddy, there isn’t anybody who really has it all together, knows all the answers. You’re kind of in the wilderness. You have to take a chance to fail.” John Leventhal isn’t sure how to measure success. John Leventhal is a self invented guy. Despite his five Grammys, his critically and commercially successful work as musician, producer, songwriter, and recording engineer who has produced albums for William Bell, Michelle Branch, Rosanne Cash, Marc Cohn, Shawn Colvin, Rodney Cro...2018-10-1651 minThe Third Story with Leo SidranMary SweeneyMary Sweeney needs some air. “There has to be a flow of fast and slow, and a pause to allow the listener or the spectator to digest and to project their own thoughts.” She thinks I should leave more space in my podcasts, to let it breathe. She tells me this as we sit in the screened in porch behind her summer house in Madison, Wisconsin. As she tells me this, cicadas chirp loudly, as if to underscore her point: “Today’s episode will not be edited! You will not remove us from this moment!” Mary Sweeney should know...2018-09-301h 23The Third Story with Leo SidranNate Chinen On Playing ChangesI first reached out to Nate Chinen to do an interview in 2015. At that time, I knew him as the jazz critic for the New York Times and a columnist for Jazz Times, and I also loved the book he wrote with George Wein Myself Among Others. (I interviewed George a few years ago as well.) In the intervening years, Nate left the New York Times, became the Director of Editorial Content at WBGO (one of the most important jazz radio stations in the country) and wrote the book Playing Changes: Jazz for the New Century, which w...2018-08-221h 21The Third Story with Leo SidranHoward S. BeckerSociologist and musician Howard S. Becker is 90 years old. While he is best known for his contributions to the sociology of deviance, sociology of art and sociology of music (his book Oustiders from 1963 was one of the first and most influential books on deviance), he also spent many of his early years playing piano in taverns, saloons and even strip clubs. As a young man in Chicago, while attending the University of Chicago in the 1940s he also studied piano with the legendary jazz pianist and teacher Lennie Tristano, and performed with local players of the day...2018-08-071h 01The Third Story with Leo SidranBen Wikler, Anat Shenker-Osorio, Dan KaufmanMadison, Wisconsin in the 1960s was one of the most radicalized university campuses in the country. It was a center for the kind of counter culture that has come to feel like a cliché today. There was plenty of sex, drugs, and rock & roll, sure. But there was also political activism, civil rights, environmentalism. Because of the University of Wisconsin, thousands of young people move through Madison and take the values of the city with them when they leave. Earlier this summer, The Madison Reunion brought over one thousand people with ties to Madison in t...2018-07-161h 11The Third Story with Leo Sidran108 - Lage LundWhat is there to say about guitarist Lage Lund that hasn’t already been said? Not much. And plenty. Lage has been a fixture on the New York jazz scene since moving here in the early 2000s as a “skinny kid from Norway with dreads”. The dreads are long gone, and there is very little about him today to indicate that he grew up in a small Norwegian city (Skien) where he had to take a three hour train ride to Oslo to buy the latest jazz albums, and that before he was one of the most creati...2018-07-061h 13The Third Story with Leo SidranBrendan B. BrownTalking to Brendan B. Brown about his life and music is like talking to a dozen guys at once. There’s the singer-songwriter - the guy who wrote the hit song “Teenage Dirtbag” and created the band Wheatus nearly 2 decades ago, and who has been riding that wave ever since. This is the guy who writes brilliant, provocative, genre bending pop songs, and who tours stadiums in the UK and Australia. There’s the kid who grew up in a “lobster town in decline” on long island in the 80s and was sent to an all boys high school...2018-06-211h 18The Third Story with Leo SidranJoe GoodkinJoe Goodkin was a part time singer songwriter, part time paralegal with a penchant for classical Greece and a sensitive side. After years of playing in bands he realized that the big record contract was not coming anytime soon and taking a band on the road was economically impossible. But he knew there was a place for him as a musical storyteller. One day, he dusted off a project he had started when he was just out of college, a musical companion to Homer’s Odyssey, and started thinking about how to present it and himself in a new wa...2018-06-071h 01The Third Story with Leo SidranBest of 2017 Vol. 2In this, the second of a two part Best of 2017 series, fragments of various episodes are strung together in order to tease out the big ideas, the underlying themes, and the tiny obsessions that have been propelling the podcast all year. Best of 2017 Part 1 looked at community and how community informs creative work. This second part looks at the more interior questions of process, identity and desire. And it explores the idea of the arts as political protest, and the potential disruptive power of creative expression. Featuring interviews with Peter Straub, Theo Katzman, Jonatha Brooke...2017-12-311h 30The Third Story with Leo Sidran78: Mobtown Tour Vol. 2 - A club beyond categoryOn week two of the Mob Town Tour series of podcasts, we explore the Green Mill in Chicago. One of the greatest jazz clubs in the world. It’s a kind of jazz unicorn. A joint that walks the line and manages to serve the community at large and the musicians too. You’d think this would be normal, but it’s not. It’s very rareAnd that is due in no small part to the owner, Dave Jemilo. In this episode we spend some time talking with musician Bob Rockwell (the saxophone player in the Ben Si...2017-09-121h 00The Third Story with Leo Sidran69: Remembering Tommy LiPumaBen and Leo Sidran remember record producer Tommy LiPuma and play some previously unheard interviews with him. These particular stories talk about a time in his life that hasn’t been talked about too much - his childhood in Cleveland, how the radio was his best friend, and how music saved his life, and how being a barber got him to LA. www.third-story.com2017-03-1631 minThe Third Story with Leo Sidran60: The election (Ben and Leo Sidran)I woke up on the road in Paris the morning after the American Presidential election and saw the results. Then my father and I had this brief conversation. Nearly one year to the day after we lived through a terror attack in Paris, we found ourselves back in the same place. Only this time it was not our personal safety that had been placed at risk. It was something that felt somehow much larger. Last year we recorded a podcast conversation describing what it felt like in Paris on the night of November 13th. At...2016-11-1012 minThe Third Story with Leo Sidran50th Episode Special: Leo Sidran (podcast host, musician)For this 50th Episode special, bassist and composer Michael Thurber turns the tables on Third Story host Leo Sidran. They explore Leo's musical career (which includes writing songs for the Steve Miller Band as a teenager, co-producing an Oscar winning song, and surviving in the jingle jungle of commercial music), the Third Story podcast, and finding his own path.2016-04-191h 24
The Third Story with Leo SidranEp. 49: Marc Webb (Director)Before director Marc Webb was handed the keys to the Spider Man franchise (he directed both Amazing Spider Man movies), he made the 500 Days Of Summer – a film that wove music and image together in a deeply compelling way.
Before he made his first feature film, he directed nearly 150 music videos.
And before he did any of that, he went to high school with Third Story host Leo Sidran in Madison, Wisconsin. Here he tells the story of how a theater kid from the Midwest went on to make his mark on music videos, and then...2016-04-011h 23The Third Story with Leo Sidran40: Howard Levy, Harmonica Player on How Rhythm, Melody, & Light are all the same thingHoward Levy has one of the most inquisitive musical minds of anyone around. He’s an accomplished piano player, and a musical fixture on the Chicago music scene, but the thing that he’s most known for is his astounding harmonica playing and innovative technique.
Here he talks to Leo and Ben Sidran about his journey out of New York, to the city of wide shoulders and open spaces, and how living in Chicago influenced his development, gave him room to think and create, and eventually come to some very special conclusions about the nature of sound, light...2015-09-241h 15The Third Story with Leo Sidran37: Inspiration Comes from Life at the Newport Jazz FestivalBen Sidran and I spent three days at the Newport Jazz Festival, checking
out the music, hanging with musicians and trying to find a lobster roll.
During the course of the weekend, we connected with some wonderful jazz
personalities, including Jon Batiste, Dr. John, Jason Lindner, Maria
Schneider, Jose James, James Carter, Jamie Cullum, David Hazeltine, and Bob
Dorough. Each of them helped us to paint the picture of real life as it
comes into contact with a career in music. 2015-08-1346 minThe Third Story with Leo Sidran35: Welcome to CopenhagenRoam in and out of Copenhagen jazz clubs with me and my father, Ben Sidran.
With microphones in hand, we interviewed all sorts of musicians, wondering
aloud about the future of the music. A window into my world.2015-07-161h 00