Leo Sidran | |
---|---|
Born | Madison, Wisconsin, United States | November 27, 1976
Genres | Jazz, Latin, pop |
Occupation | Musician |
Instrument(s) | Vocals, guitar, keyboards, drums |
Years active | 1993–present |
Website | leosidran |
Leo Sidran is an American Latin Grammy-winning musician, composer, performer, and producer whose credits include co-producing the Oscar-winning song "Al Otro Lado Del Rio" for the soundtrack to the movie The Motorcycle Diaries . [1]
Sidran began his career in music early. Having learned to play the drums from funk-jazz percussionist Clyde Stubblefield, he wrote songs as a teenager for Steve Miller.
Sidran grew up in Madison, Wisconsin. His father, Ben Sidran, is a jazz musician, producer and historian. His mother is a weaver. Leo attended the University of Wisconsin, graduating in 1999 with a degree in history and integrated liberal studies. While still in high school, he developed a fascination with Spain and the Spanish language, and moved to Seville for a year in college. He relocated from Madison to Brooklyn in 2005 and has lived there since.
Sidran began playing and writing music at a young age. He wrote his first song, "Pushing and Shoving", when he was six years old, and recorded a demo of the song with his father. The vocal from that demo was later used on the Sidrans' father-son children's music album El Elefante.
His first instrument was the drums, and his first teacher was Clyde Stubblefield. Sidran later produced Stubblefield's solo record The Original. As a drummer, Sidran has recorded on many of his father's records, including Nick's Bump , Don't Cry For No Hipster , and the Grammy-nominated Concert for Garcia Lorca.
The Steve Miller Band recorded Sidran's songs before he had graduated from high school. Miller, a longtime friend and collaborator with his father, taught Sidran to play the guitar.
Also while still in high school, Sidran began performing regularly as a jazz drummer with his father. His earliest performances included shows with bassist Richard Davis, saxophonists Frank Morgan and Richie Cole, and guitarist Phil Upchurch.
Sidran released his first solo record, Leo and the Depleting Moral Legacy, while he was in college. The album was a collection of songs he had written mostly in high school, including two songs that had already been recorded by Steve Miller. He played many of the instruments and mixed the record; Paul Peterson, Ricky Peterson, and Steve Marker also contributed.
After returning from Spain, Sidran recorded two bilingual solo albums. In 1998 he recorded L. Sid in Minneapolis with a studio band including Anthony Cox, Gordy Knudtson and Bob Malach. In 2003 he released Bohemia, an album recorded in Madison and Madrid, and featuring appearances by Spanish artists including Jorge Drexler, Ana Laan, and Tino di Geraldo, and American collaborators including Freedy Johnston, Holly Brook, and Howard Levy.
Sidran's fourth solo record, Mucho Leo, was released in October 2014 and featured the song "Speak To Me In Spanish". It was followed in 2018 by a tribute to Michael Franks called Cool School (The Music Of Michael Franks) which was recorded in New York and Paris and featured a duet performed between Sidran and Franks.
During the process of recording Bohemia, Sidran became friendly with Jorge Drexler and Ana Laan, and eventually went on to produce and perform regularly with both. He co-produced Laan's Oregano and Chocolate and Roses albums, as well as Drexler's Oscar-winning song, "Al Otro Lado Del Rio".
In 2003 Sidran started Nardis Records with his father. The name "Nardis" comes from a Miles Davis composition, but is also Sidran's name spelled backwards. The label was set up as a vehicle to release projects by both father and son, and both have released their recent solo projects as well as other artist productions on the label.
A chance encounter at a jam session in Madison with singer-songwriter Joy Dragland would ultimately lead to the creation of Joy and the Boy; primarily a studio project, the duo released three albums. Their cover of Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" debuted in the Top 40 pop radio charts in Spain.
After moving to New York in 2005, Sidran developed his career as a composer for film and television commercials. He has scored over 100 national television commercials, and six feature-length documentaries including At The Death House Door and No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson, directed by Steve James.
In 2014, Leo Sidran started a podcast called The Third Story, in which he interviews musicians, artists, and writers. His first guest was Will Lee, and subsequent interviews included scientist Daniel Levitin, pianist Jon Batiste, singer Madeleine Peyroux, arranger/producer Rob Mounsey record producer Tommy LiPuma, and hundreds more. In 2022 The Third Story joined WBGO Studios.
Steven Haworth Miller is an American musician. He is the founder and only remaining original member of the Steve Miller Band, which he founded in 1966, and is the principal songwriter, lead singer, harmonicist, keyboardist, and one of the guitarists. He began his career in blues and blues rock and evolved to a more pop-oriented arena rock genre during the mid-1970s through the early 1980s, releasing popular singles and albums. Miller was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016.
Wisconsin was settled largely by European immigrants in the late 19th century. This immigration led to the popularization of galops, schottisches, waltzes, and, especially, polkas. Classical composers and conductors from Wisconsin include Hans Balatka, Hugo Kaun, Eugene Luening, and Theodore Steinmetz. Among Wisconsin's contributions to rock music were Les Paul, an electric guitar pioneer known as the "Wizard of Waukesha". The Steve Miller Band, with Milwaukee's Steve Miller, had three #1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 from 1973 to 1982. The Chordettes from Sheboygan, Bon Iver from Eau Claire, and Garbage from Madison all had albums on the Billboard 200.
Clyde Austin Stubblefield was an American drummer best known for his work with James Brown, with whom he recorded and toured for six years (1965-70). His syncopated drum patterns on Brown's recordings are considered funk standards. Samples of his drum performances were heavily used in hip hop music beginning in the 1980s, although Stubblefield frequently received no credit.
Jorge Abner Drexler Prada is a Uruguayan musician, actor and doctor specializing in otolaryngology.
Ben Hirsh Sidran is an American jazz and rock keyboardist, producer, label owner, and music writer. Early in his career he was a member of the Steve Miller Band and is the father of Grammy-nominated musician, composer and performer Leo Sidran.
"Al otro lado del río" is a song by Uruguayan singer Jorge Drexler from the soundtrack album for the film The Motorcycle Diaries (2004). It was released as a single on 15 March 2005, by Dro East West. Besides the film's soundtrack, the song was included in reissue editions of Drexler's seventh studio album Eco (2004) as a bonus track. In June 2020, he performed the song at the launch show of the app 342 Amazônia at Circo Voador.
Joy and the Boy is an American musical duo consisting of singer-songwriter Joy Dragland and musician/producer Leo Sidran. Their first performance as a duo was in Madison, Wisconsin at a 2000 political rally at the Wisconsin State Capitol in front of 30,000 people. They released the album Paradise on Nardis Records in 2004 and its cover version of Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" debuted in the Top 40 pop radio charts in Spain.
L Sid is the second solo album by Leo Sidran. It was released on February 15, 2000, on Go Jazz Records. It was the first album by Sidran dually composed in English and Castilian.
Nardis Music is a jazz record label formed in 2003 by Ben Sidran and his son Leo.
Tommy LiPuma was an American music producer. His productions received 33 Grammy nominations and sold over 75 million albums. His six individual nominations resulted in five Grammy wins. LiPuma worked with many musicians, including Barbra Streisand, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, George Benson, Phil Upchurch, Al Jarreau, Anita Baker, Natalie Cole, Gábor Szabó, Claudine Longet, Dave Mason, the Yellowjackets, the Sandpipers, Michael Franks, Diana Krall, Paul McCartney, Ben Sidran, The Crusaders, Joe Sample, Randy Crawford and Dr. John. In 2020, his biography, The Ballad of Tommy LiPuma, written by Ben Sidran and published by Nardis Books, was named "the music biography of the year" by The New York City Jazz Record.
Several bands have called themselves The Ardells.
Will Bernard is a guitarist and band leader. He has led the Will Bernard Band, Will Bernard Trio, Will Bernard 4-tet, and Motherbug.
Antony Orlando Frank le Fleming is a jazz musician and English cricketer.
Ana Serrano van der Laan, known professionally as Ana Laan, is a singer-songwriter born in Madrid, Spain. She composes in English, Spanish and Swedish, with a smattering of French.
Amar la Trama is the ninth studio album by Uruguayan recording artist Jorge Drexler. It was released by Warner Music on March 16, 2010, after a four-year gap since the release of his last album of original music. Drexler worked as co-producer, along with Matías Cella and Carles Campi Campón. The themes of the songs are his personal feelings inspired by journeys to Uruguay and Spain, his global wanderings, and the universal wonder of everyday moments.
Dylan Different is a smooth jazz album by keyboardist and jazz vocalist Ben Sidran, released in 2009. It is Sidran's thirty-sixth album, and his fourth release with his independent label Nardis Records.
Nick's Bump is a smooth jazz album by American keyboardist and jazz vocalist Ben Sidran, released in 2004. It is Sidran's twenty sixth album, and his first release by his independent label Nardis Records.
Billy Peterson is an American bass player, songwriter, composer, session musician and producer. Growing up in a family of professional musicians, Peterson started with music at a very young age. Billy is the brother of Paul Peterson and Ricky Peterson.
Don't Cry For No Hipster is a jazz album by keyboardist and vocalist Ben Sidran. It was recorded in July 2012, and released in 2013 under Sidran's label Nardis Records in the United States, and Bonsaï Music in France.
The Latin Porter is a live album by Mark Murphy.