Leo Sidran
Host of The Third StoryLeo Sidran is a Grammy winning multi-instrumentalist musician, producer, arranger, composer, recording artist and podcast host based in Brooklyn, New York.
Raised around music and musicians, Sidran started writing songs professionally as a teenager when the Steve Miller Band recorded four of his songs for their 1993 Wide River album. Around the same time, he began performing regularly as a drummer with his father, renowned and multifaceted jazzman Ben Sidran.
Sidran’s seven solo albums have explored the space between pop music, jazz, Brazilian and singer songwriter genres. Jazz Magazine in France says “Leo Sidran makes pop music swing.” Jazz Times says of Leo, “Vocally he suggests an amalgam of his father Ben with a hint of Donald Fagen. His fluid laidback style is reminiscent of Bob Dorough. Musically and lyrically his compositions are smart, sharp, and sparklingly original.” His most recent album, The Art Of Conversation was released in 2021. El Pais in Spain called it a “hymn to empathy”.
In addition to his solo career he has produced or co-produced projects for artists around the world (often in the Latin music space) including the Oscar winning song “Al otro lado del rio” for Jorge Drexler (from the film The Motorcycle Diaries), the Latin Grammy winning Healer for Cuban singer Alex Cuba, Grammy Nominated Mis Americas for Argentine-American songwriter Kevin Johansen, and The Original for Clyde Stubblefield (James Brown's original funky drummer). Leo has produced all of Ben Sidran’s records for the last 15 years, most recently Swing State.
Leo’s music has been featured in hundreds of advertisements for the world’s biggest brands, and he has scored long form projects for outlets including ESPN 30 for 30, Discovery, IFC, Sundance, and PBS.
As a drummer, he has played and recorded with jazz luminaries including Phil Woods, Howard Levy, David Fathead Newman, Clark Terry, Dave Grusin, Rick Margitza, and many more. He tours regularly around the world with his father’s quartet and his love of jazz continues to inform much of his work.
Above all, Leo loves to connect with people, which is what led him to start his much heralded podcast The Third Story, featuring interviews with musicians, producers, songwriters, and others in the creative class of all ages about their personal stories and professional journeys. Although it is not specifically a jazz podcast, many of his guests have spent time exploring the space around improvisation and creation.
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Leo Sidran talks to composer and musician Arturo O’Farrill about creation, discovery and imposter syndrome. -
Before The Irish Goodbye became one of the most acclaimed debut novels of 2025, Heather Aimee O'Neill spent years quietly writing it while building a career helping other writers tell their stories. Here she discusses the vulnerability of ambition, the challenge of living an authentic life, and the strange transition from observer to protagonist. -
Vocalist and educator Theo Bleckmann on why artists need community, how to "code the self," and why a life in music matters more than a career. -
Food writer Melissa Clark talks to Leo Sidran about when a kitchen improvisation becomes a recipe—and how finding the right name can help bring it to life. -
Vibraphonist Warren Wolf is one of the most accomplished musicians of his generation, but he never planned on playing the instrument that would define his career. Raised in Baltimore by a father who insisted he study music, Wolf spent years practicing vibraphone, drums and piano before discovering the joy of performance and finding his own voice. Today, whether he's making groove-oriented records like Smooth Vibes or revisiting ambitious works like Chick Corea's Lyric Suite for Sextet, Wolf continues to follow a philosophy shaped by a lifetime of listening: keep an open mind, avoid musical boxes, and let the music speak for itself. -
Saxophonist and bandleader Lakecia Benjamin has become one of the most dynamic voices in jazz. In this wide ranging conversation with Leo Sidran she recalls some of her early professional experiences, and how the mentors, heroes, setbacks and aspirations that shaped her journey continue to inform her new album, We Dream. -
Saxophonist and bandleader Lakecia Benjamin has become one of the most dynamic voices in jazz. She tells Leo Sidran about one of her first professional experiences, and how the mentors, heroes, setbacks and aspirations that shaped her journey continue to inform her new album, We Dream. -
Leo Sidran catches up with Zev Feldman, a man often called 'the Indiana Jones of Jazz'. Others know him as 'the jazz detective'. He prefers something simpler: a music fan who never stopped asking questions. “I literally search the world for previously unissued recordings of this music - America’s classical music." -
After traveling to Spain to accept a surprising jazz award, Leo Sidran finds himself wrestling with an old question: what is jazz, anyway? The answer arrives later that night at Madrid's Café Central, where musicians and fans gather to sing an impromptu tribute to the late Sonny Rollins. -
Leo Sidran explores the newly unearthed treasure trove from the archives of photographer Steve Schapiro, a photo book entitled "Jazz" offering a priceless look inside the happenings of jazz in 1960s New York City.
