Bob Rockwell, Ben Sidran, Billy Peterson, Leo Sidran - Bob's Ben: A Salute to Ben Webster

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 2005
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 62:37
Size: 144,6 MB
Art: Front

(4:26) 1. Prelude For Ben
(7:01) 2. Bye Bye Blackbird
(4:27) 3. Time On My Hands
(4:59) 4. Old Folks
(7:17) 5. This Can't Be Love
(4:52) 6. That's All
(3:40) 7. Sunday
(4:44) 8. Time After Time
(3:58) 9. Danny Boy
(4:26) 10. La Rosita
(4:07) 11. Tenderly
(5:13) 12. Bounce Blues
(3:21) 13. In The Wee Small Hours

Ben Webster was one of several giants of the tenor saxophone, though his contributions sometimes have not been as greatly appreciated as those of Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young. Bob Rockwell, an American expatriate who had been living and working in Copenhagen for a couple of decades, was honored with a stipend from the Ben Webster Foundation in the city to make a tribute recording in honor of the late saxophonist. Rockwell is well accompanied by pianist Ben Sidran, bassist Billy Peterson, and drummer Leo Sidran (the pianist's son).

Prior to the session, the leader sought out as many of Webster's original charts as he could find, and he decided to stick with Webster's choice of keys and tempi, also utilizing the same chord substitutions. But this is no mere carbon copy of Ben Webster's recordings. Though Rockwell has a big tone, he is not as breathy and manages to convey his own sound in spite of taking inspiration from Webster's arrangements. He does a beautiful job with the ballads, displaying a lyrical touch that the honoree would have enjoyed, especially in "Danny Boy" and "Old Folks," while overdubbing a harmony line in "La Rosita." All in all, a fine effort. By Ken Dryden
https://www.allmusic.com/album/bobs-ben-a-salute-to-ben-webster-mw0001434524

Personnel: Tenor Saxophone – Bob Rockwell; Piano – Ben Sidran; Bass – Billy Peterson; Drums – Leo Sidran

Bob's Ben: A Salute to Ben Webster

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Ben Sidran - Swing State

Styles: Vocal And Piano Jazz
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 41:55
Size: 96,4 MB
Art: Front

(5:19) 1. Lullaby of the Leaves
(6:10) 2. Swing State
(5:35) 3. Laura
(4:53) 4. Ain't Misbehavin'
(4:49) 5. Stompin' at the Savoy
(4:00) 6. Over the Rainbow
(5:09) 7. Tuxedo Junction
(5:57) 8. Laura (Alt. Take)

Swing State is my first all instrumental record. I’ve done instrumentals before but this is my first piano trio project. My favorite records when I was a kid were the trios of Horace Silver, Bobby Timmons, Bud Powell, and later Sonny Clark. The piano trio format was what first excited me. So circling back sixty-some years later I wanted to feel like those musicians felt when they played. I know I can’t play like them, but I can feel like them. That’s what Swing State is.

When I started thinking about the repertoire I first considered doing some of my favorite bebop compositions from the 50s, and from there I started looking at older and older material until I wound up choosing mostly songs from the 1930s. I now realize that these are the first songs I played when I started learning to play piano as a boy.

I had a Fake Book an illegal book of sheet music - that was given to me by a friend of my father’s, a piano player who had worked professionally in the 1930s. So I got my start playing all these tunes from that period. Songs like “Tuxedo Junction,” “Ain’t Misbehavin,” “Lullaby Of The Leaves,” and “Over The Rainbow.” I wasn’t even aware of it when we recorded the album, but now I can see that my reasons for choosing this repertoire run very deep.

I like the title Swing State because it describes the emotional space that the music puts you into when it swings. It’s not from your brain, it’s from your body. It’s what it feels like when that pulse - that loose, loping pulse that was at the heart of what people have always tried to do in jazz (until recently when swing is just an option). Swing used to be the thing that you wanted to establish to make people feel good.

The first time I felt this I was 6 or 7 years old and I heard a record by Jimmy Forrest called “Night Train”. It flipped me out! I heard it in an art class I went to where the teachers played us the song and asked the kids to draw what it felt like. I don’t remember my drawing, but I do remember running around the room. I never felt that way before. It set something off in me that all these years later is still there.

As human beings, we have a tendency to clench. It’s our fight or flight impulse when we’re threatened. Sometimes it’s work just to relax and to let go. You can’t really feel good unless you’re relaxed and you let go. It’s been a real challenge to do that recently. I’ve used these troubled times over the last couple of years to try my best to get in touch with my best intentions from when I was young.

For example, I always told myself that when I got to a certain age I would read all of the great books that I pretended to read when I was in college. This record is kind of a piece with that: to make a trio record filled with the songs of my childhood. As the saying goes, “leave with the one that brought you”.

I couldn’t have made this record without Billy Peterson on bass and Leo Sidran on drums. The three of us have played together in so many situations over decades that we don’t have to talk about anything. The music just comes together. We walked into the studio without any arrangements and within 10 or 15 minutes we had a fully developed conception for the record. It came together naturally, authentically and quickly.
It really reflected who I am right now. It’s not an idea that got done; it’s a done deal. http://bensidran.com/album/swing-state

Personnel: Ben Sidran, Piano; Billy Peterson, Bass; Leo Sidran, Drums

Swing State

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Ben Sidran - Who's the Old Guy Now

Styles: Vocal And Piano Jazz
Year: 2020
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 19:58
Size: 46,2 MB
Art: Front

(3:38) 1. We the People
(3:44) 2. Who's the Old Guy Now
(3:38) 3. The Blues Is the Bottom line
(5:33) 4. Too Many People
(3:23) 5. Old Wine New Bottle

For 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 "Look 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 Covid times, watching livestream jazz, getting older, the difference between Troubadours, Shamans and Griots, going "underground," why jazz is sometimes called "the sound of surprise," whether or not the idea of "popular music" will endure into the twenty-first century, how a bill becomes a law, Miles Davis' posture, and just what exactly "hay foot straw foot" means.~ Leo Sidran https://www.allaboutjazz.com/ben-sidran-whos-the-old-guy-now-ben-sidran

Personnel: Ben Sidran: piano, Wurlitzer, Hammond organ, vocals, Leo Sidran: drums, bass, guitar, Hammond organ, vocals, John Ellis: bass clarinet and clarinet (4), Billy Peterson: bass (1), Paul Peterson: guitar (1) Ricky Peterson: Hammond organ (1), Moses Patrou: percussion (1,3)

Who's the Old Guy Now

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Ben Sidran - Live At The Celebrity Lounge

Styles: Vocal And Piano Jazz
Year: 1998
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 52:44
Size: 123,1 MB
Art: Front

(4:34)  1. Sentimental Journey
(4:50)  2. Turn To The Music
(0:25)  3. Chat
(4:37)  4. I Wanna Be A Bebopper
(6:16)  5. House Of Blue Lights
(5:03)  6. Look Here
(5:35)  7. Avinu Malchenu
(1:27)  8. Chat 2
(3:31)  9. Gege's Mouth Drums
(4:55) 10. Gege's Groove
(6:29) 11. Old Folks
(4:57) 12. Blues For The Celebrity Lounge

Pianist, singer/songwriter, producer, author, and host Ben Sidran is a literate performer known for his engaging, jazz-influenced sound and laid-back, conversational style. Essentially a pianist/vocalist with a storytelling approach in the tradition of Mose Allison, Sidran grew from a supporting player with rocker Steve Miller to a solo performer, and to an award-winning radio and TV host. Along the way, he has produced albums for such luminaries as Allison, Van Morrison, Michael Franks, Rickie Lee Jones, and others. He has also hosted shows for National Public Radio and VH1. Born in Chicago in 1943, Sidran grew up in Racine, Wisconsin. In the early '60s, he played with Steve Miller and Boz Scaggs in a band called the Ardells at the University of Wisconsin. After Miller moved to San Francisco and secured a recording contract, he called on old friend Sidran to join him in the Steve Miller Band following the departure of original keyboardist Jim Peterman. Sidran contributed on the keys and as songwriter on several Miller albums beginning with Brave New World in 1969, co-writing the classic "Space Cowboy" and three other tunes on that LP. 

He also authored "Steve Miller's Midnight Tango" on Number 5 and collaborated with Miller on several other tunes through the years. He also produced his friend's underappreciated Recall the Beginning...A Journey from Eden in 1972. Sidran received a Ph.D. in philosophy/musicology, writing his doctoral thesis on African-American culture and music in the United States. The thesis was published to positive critical response in 1971 as Black Talk. Since 1972, he has released a number of solo albums in a cool, easy swinging style similar to Allison, including 1976's Free in America, 1977's The Doctor Is In, and 1978's A Little Kiss in the Night. While his early albums relied on acoustic instruments and lyrical references to his musical heroes, his later releases used electronic instruments and tasty synthesizers for an interesting sound best presented on albums like 1985's On the Cool Side and 1988's Too Hot to Touch. Through the years, Sidran and Miller have remained close friends, popping up from time to time on one another's recordings or live performances. In 1988, Sidran co-produced one of Miller's most interesting latter-day recordings, Born 2B Blue, a collection of jazz standards dressed up in the same cool, low-key arrangements Sidran employs on his own albums. Also during the '80s, Sidran began expanding his profile by hosting shows for National Public Radio, including the Jazz Alive series, for which he earned a Peabody Award. During the '90s, Sidran released a number of albums on his own Go Jazz label, including 1994's Life's a Lesson, 1996's Mr. P's Shuffle, and 1999's The Concert for García Lorca. He also appeared on television, hosting the Ace Award-winning New Visions program on VH1. Also during this period, he collaborated with Van Morrison and Georgie Fame on the tribute album Tell Me Something: The Songs of Mose Allison. He then formed the Nardis label with his son, and delivered such efforts as 2004's Nick's Bump, 2006's Live à Fip, 2009's Dylan Different, and 2013's Don't Cry for No Hipster. In 2017 Sidran returned with Picture Him Happy, a philosophical production centered on the myth of Sisyphus and featuring backing from guitarist Will Bernard, bassist Will Lee, saxophonist John Ellis, and others. ~ Jim Newsom https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/live-at-the-celebrity-lounge/1047027456

Ben Sidran (Piano, Vocals); Phil Woods (Saxophone); Phil Upchurch (Guitar); Mike Mainieri (Vibraphone); Richard Davis (Bass); Leo Sidran (Drums); Gege Telesforo (Vocals); Lynette Margulies (Vocals).

Live At The Celebrity Lounge

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The Steve Miller Band - Born 2B Blue

Styles: Vocal And Guitar Jazz 
Year: 1988
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 42:07
Size: 96,8 MB
Art: Front

(4:11)  1. Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah
(3:35)  2. Ya Ya
(4:58)  3. God Bless The Child
(2:48)  4. Filthy McNasty
(5:23)  5. Born To Be Blue
(4:48)  6. Mary Ann
(4:02)  7. Just A Little Bit
(4:35)  8. When Sunny Gets Blue
(5:11)  9. Willow Weep For Me
(2:31) 10. Red Top

Disregard the fact that the "space" in Steve Miller's "space blues" was a large part of why he had his own distinctive musical identity, because if you're going into 1988's Born 2B Blue looking for a return to his trademark space blues, or even a revitalization of his roots, you'll be sorely disappointed. In fact, this isn't even a blues album it's a jazz album, pitched halfway between soul-jazz and smooth jazz. He's able to draft such heavy-hitters as Phil Woods and Milt Jackson for guest spots, and his taste in material is quite nice, balancing the overly familiar ("Willow Weep for Me," "God Bless the Child") with relatively obscure R&B cuts ("Ya Ya," "Mary Ann") and selections that demonstrate that he's a genuine fan, such as Horace Silver's "Filthy McNasty." Now, does all this make Born 2B Blue a worthwhile genre exercise? Well, in a sense, it does, since Miller is passionate as he can be, turning in charmingly laid-back performances that may not be noteworthy, but are pleasant as can be. So, it winds up being something that's modestly impressive and enjoyable as it's playing, but no matter what its virtues are, it's more noteworthy for what it is than what it gives. ~ Steve Thomas Erlewine http://www.allmusic.com/album/born-2b-blue-mw0000197299

Personnel:  Guitar, Vocals – Steve Miller;  Bass – Billy Peterson;  Drums – Gordy Knudtson;  Keyboards – Ben Sidran

Born 2B Blue

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Ben Sidran - Picture Him Happy

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 45:13
Size: 103.5 MB
Styles: Vocal jazz
Year: 2017
Art: Front

[2:59] 1. College
[3:32] 2. Discount Records
[4:57] 3. Picture Him Happy (Sisyphus Goes To Work)
[4:01] 4. I Might Be Wrong
[4:41] 5. Too Much Too Late (What Mose Said)
[3:24] 6. Shaboogie
[2:50] 7. Faking It
[2:56] 8. Thank God For The F Train
[4:43] 9. Another Old Bull
[3:53] 10. Big Brother
[3:58] 11. Who Are You
[3:14] 12. Was

"With the title track, Ben Sidran delivers one of the most insightful songs in a career full of them; in it, he rearranges the paradigm to suggest how we might buck up against situations that seem hopeless. His timing couldn't be better. His stylistic mentor, the late Mose Allison, would be proud." ~Neil Tesser

PICTURE HIM HAPPY is a response to the saying that our music is made by and for people who have chosen to feel good in spite of conditions: you often can’t affect what happens but you can determine how you respond to it. It’s a record that’s right on time. The central image is that of Sisyphus, the mythical man doomed to push the same rock up the same hill for eternity. French philosopher Albert Camus suggested that given the similarity between the life of Sisyphus and our lives today, the only reasonable response is to try to imagine him happy – hence the title of this project. We live in hard, frustrating times – perhaps we always have – and now more than ever, we need to turn to the music to make this hill we climb bearable.

Picture Him Happy

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Ben Sidran, Bob Rockwell Quartet - Walk Pretty

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 59:40
Size: 136.6 MB
Styles: Smooth jazz
Year: 2002
Art: Front

[4:21] 1. That's My Girl
[5:36] 2. Walk Pretty
[6:16] 3. Rain Rain
[4:45] 4. Lady Sings The Blues
[4:38] 5. The Winter Of My Discontent
[4:42] 6. South To A Warmer Place
[4:09] 7. While We're Young
[3:30] 8. Lovers And Losers
[4:42] 9. If Someday Ever Happens Again
[5:41] 10. I Like It Here
[4:49] 11. A Long Night
[6:25] 12. Moon And Sand

Bass – Billy Peterson; Drums – Kenny Horst; Piano, Vocals – Ben Sidran; Tenor Saxophone, Flute – Bob Rockwell. Recorded and mixed by Steve Wiese, April 28 and 29, 2002 at Creation Audio in Minneapolis.

Around the time that Mark Winkler started rummaging through the Bobby Troup songbook, saxophonist Bob Rockwell, now living in Denmark, was itching to honor another undersung hero of American jazz and pop, Alec Wilder. Fortunately for us, Rockwell's first call went out to his singer-pianist pal Ben Sidran. Wading into the elegant complexity of Wilder's work, Sidran spent three months absorbing the fragile beauty of such classics as "The Winter of My Discontent," "While We're Young" and "Lady Sings the Blues." Then, together with Rockwell, bassist Billy Peterson and drummer Kenny Horst, he traveled to Rockwell's hometown of Minneapolis to lay down the 12 tracks that fill Walk Pretty (Go Jazz). Result? A superbly thoughtful and intelligent tribute that's as profound as it is lyrical. (Wilder devotees may question the absence of his most famous composition, "I'll Be Around." I suspect, though, that Rockwell and company wisely recognized the song's severe overexposure.) Fans of Sidran's spare, sandy vocals (imbued with a whip-smart worldliness worthy of Mose Allison) might be similarly disappointed to learn that he sings on only five selections. Consider it a case of quality exceeding quantity. Rambling from the relaxed confidence of the title track, through the sly restlessness of "Discontent" and "South to a Warmer Place" and on to the sweet que sera sera fatalism of "If Someday Ever Happens Again" and resigned desolation of "A Long Night," Sidran proves himself, yet again, an inveterately resourceful troubadour. ~Christopher Loudon

Walk Pretty

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Ben Sidran - On The Cool Side

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 48:21
Size: 110.7 MB
Styles: Cool jazz
Year: 1985/1999
Art: Front

[5:15] 1. Mitsubishi Boy
[3:03] 2. Lover Man, Pt. 1
[4:54] 3. Lover Man, Pt. 2
[3:52] 4. Brown Eyes
[5:50] 5. On The Cool Side
[3:34] 6. Old Hoagy
[3:56] 7. Heat Wave
[4:16] 8. Take It Easy Greasy
[3:33] 9. Lazy River
[4:25] 10. That's What The Note Said
[5:37] 11. Lost In The Stars

Ben Sidran - Piano, Vocals; Billy Peterson - Bass; Ricky Peterson - Synthesizer; Steve Miller - Guitar, Vocals; Paul Peterson - Synthesizer; Howard Arthur - Guitar; Dr. John - Vocals.

My first step into the world of digital instruments, I used the latest gear at the time (Lynn drum machine, Yamaha DX7, etc.) to capture the spirit of the times, and it did: the sound of this recording is forever locked in the 1980s. Some of the songs, on the other hand, like "Mitsubishi Boy", have had many reincarnations. ~Ben

Ben Sidran's musical persona has always been one of cool-cat hipster, talk-singing his songs in a style reminiscent of his mentor, Mose Allison. On the Cool Side was one of his more commercially viable solo releases, finding an audience in the small coterie of contemporary jazz stations in the mid-'80s. The title track is a classic of the genre, an upbeat, joyous affirmation of life, featuring a backing vocal from old pal Steve Miller. Sidran's take on "Lover Man" adds a whole new funky dimension to that oft-recorded warhorse, as do his versions of "Heat Wave" and "Up a Lazy River," the latter featuring Dr. John on second vocal. The music on this recording is heavily electronicized, with programmed drums, synthesized riffs, and Fender Rhodes piano, but it sure sounds like a lot of fun. And, you'll find yourself walking down the street singing "keep on searching, keep it on the cool side" with a big smile on your face. ~Jim Newsom

On The Cool Side

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Ben Sidran - Don't Let Go

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 37:09

Size: 85.1 MB

Styles: Soul-Jazz-Funk

Year: 1974

Art: Front

[3:25] 1. Fat Jam

[3:11] 2. The House Of Blue Lights

[2:40] 3. Ben Sidran's Midnight Tango

[3:43] 4. The Chicken Glide

[3:35] 5. She's Funny That Way (I Got A Woman, Crazy)

[1:28] 6. Monopoly

[3:18] 7. Don't Let Go

[3:28] 8. Hey Hey Baby

[3:44] 9. The Foolkiller

[3:29] 10. The Funky Elephant

[3:47] 11. Snatch

[1:16] 12. Down To The Bone

Alto Saxophone – Bunky Green; Bass – Kip Merklein, Phil Upchurch, Randy Fullerton; Drums – Tom Piazza; Drums, Percussion – Clyde Stubblefield, George Brown, Phil Upchurch; Guitar – James P. Cooke, Phil Upchurch; Harmonica – Jerry Alexander; Organ – Jim Peterman; Piano, Vocals – Ben Sidran; Tenor Saxophone – Sonny Seals.

Issued by Blue Thumb in 1974, Don't Let Go was Ben Sidran's third for the label, and his fourth overall. After his 1971 debut on Capitol, Feel Your Groove -- a rootsy, bluesy, and jazzy rock record, populated by everyone from Peter Frampton to Jesse Ed Davis -- Sidran began to indulge his jazz muse, and by 1974 the transformation was complete; he fit right in with Blue Thumb's funky, wide-reaching jazz, funk, fusion, and whatever-else-comes-down-the-pipe-that's-interesting philosophy. After all, this was the label that had issued recordings by Phil Upchurch, Luis Gasca, Mark-Almond, Ike & Tina Turner, the Crusaders, Sun Ra, Dan Hicks, the Last Poets, the Pointer Sisters, Paul Humphrey, Captain Beefheart, and Robbie Basho, among others. The players surrounding Sidran on this session are stellar; some of them had been recording with him since his second album, I Lead a Life. The players here include Upchurch, Clyde Stubblefield, Bunky Green, Sonny Seals (the saxophonist), Tom Piazza, James Curly Cooke, and Randy Fullerton. Musically, the material walks a thin line between funky and straighter jazz and pop with an equal division between vocal and instrumental numbers over its 12 tracks. Sidran was establishing himself as a serious pianist and intricate composer, and as a songwriter with Mose Allison's sophisticated sense of irony. The set opens with the killer, funked up instrumental "Fat Jam" composed by Cooke. One can hear traces of the Bill Cosby television show in Cooke's lyric line, but with its killer shimmering cymbal work, breaks, and the low-slung yet taut bassline, it's something else, too. When Sidran's Rhodes piano kicks into high gear with the Sonny Burke-arranged horns it becomes a smoking intro to a record that, in spite of its wide-ranging ambition, succeeds on virtually every level. Being pushed to this sense of hot groove, Sidran changes up on his cover of the roadhouse standard "House of Blue Lights." It starts with a spoken word hipster rant that abruptly shifts into a fine nearly spoken read of the boogie-woogie crazy original. Sidran's pianism is red hot and rooted in the Albert Ammons stride, and the rhythm section lights it up when he goes into a solo that moves right into bebop. Given how dizzy the proceeding is, this is only the beginning; as it turns out, Don't Let Go contains some of Sidran's most memorable songs, including the darkly cool "Ben Sidran's Midnite Tango," with a fine string arrangement that outdoes Michael Franks at his own game. There is also the slow strutting jazz shuffle "She's Funny That Way" and the proto-uptown soul stepper "Hey Hey Baby." Of the instrumentals, the low-key funky jazz of "The Chicken Glide," and the now infamous "Snatch" are the highlights, but these are all terrific. Don't Let Go only made it onto CD in Japan, but that shouldn't stop you from scoring a legal download digitally or from Verve's out-of-print online store. This is a killer, adventurous record from a magical time that doesn't sound a bit dated in the 21st century. ~Thom Jurek

Don't Let Go

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Ben Sidran - Dylan Different Live In Paris At The New Morning

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:30
Size: 140.8 MB
Styles: Jazz vocals
Year: 2010
Art: Front

[6:25] 1. Intro Gotta Serve Somebody
[4:45] 2. Rainy Day Woman
[5:19] 3. Blowin' In The Wind
[5:30] 4. Subterranean Homesick Blues
[4:56] 5. All I Really Want To Do
[4:09] 6. Tangled Up
[3:20] 7. Everything Is Broken
[9:54] 8. Maggie's Farm
[5:15] 9. Love Minus Zero (No Limit)
[3:16] 10. The Times They Are A-Changin'
[4:16] 11. On The Road Again
[4:18] 12. We Are Here But For A Minute

Pianist-vocalist Ben Sidran is one of those rare characters celebrated as much for their intelligent pronouncements on jazz as their ability to play it, and his 1971 book Black Talk remains one of the great dissertations to deal with both the music and its wider socio-cultural context. In fact, there has always been something wily and urbane in Sidran’s lyric writing and delivery, regardless of whether the subject is lovers, critics, or lovers who criticise. That the smart 67-year-old Chicagoan should tackle the songbook of Bob Dylan, another famously sharp pen in contemporary pop culture, thus makes a certain amount of sense and right from the downbeat Sidran appears to revel in the words as well as melodies of songs that he grew up with and on.

Recorded in concert at Paris’ celebrated New Morning, Sidran is on chipper form, backed by a European group that features both trumpeter Erik Truffaz and his longstanding bass guitarist Marcelo Guiliani as well as guitarist/vocalist Rodolphe Burger and drummer Albert Malo. They all skip heartily along the most well-trodden of roads in Dylan land – Subterranean Homesick Blues, The Times They Are Changin’ (no "a-" on this tracklisting) and All I Really Want to Do – and essentially bring more blues to the folk-blues that underpinned a major part of Dylan’s oeuvre. Certainly, the band has the chops to give the renditions the requisite energy that Sidran’s gritty, at times snarling vocal delivery requires, and, on the whole, they capture the sense of dissent and defiance that the originals embody. Maggie’s Farm, extrapolated into a dark, brooding 10-minute epic in which Giuliani’s bass and Truffaz’s trumpet improvise sinuously around a jutting two chord vamp that implies electric Miles without the electricity, is a choice cut.

It’s a shame, though, that the set ends with the sole Sidran original, We Are Here but for a Minute – it’s one that really does not highlight his proven songwriting talents to the greatest effect. It’s basically a pastiche of Lay Lady Lay with maudlin, faux-thespian spoken word that jars somewhat compared to the preceding ebullience. ~Kevin Le Gendre

Dylan Different Live In Paris At The New Morning                 

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Richie Cole - Signature

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1988
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 44:54
Size: 103,1 MB
Art: Front

(7:27)  1. Sunday In New York
(6:02)  2. Trade Winds
(3:23)  3. Doing The Jungle Walk
(6:01)  4. An Occasional Man
(5:32)  5. Rainbow Lady
(3:08)  6. Take The Cole Train
(4:55)  7. If Ever I Would Leave You
(5:46)  8. Peggy's Blue Sky Light
(2:36)  9. America The Beautiful

There is a lot of variety on this Richie Cole set with such musicians as pianists Tee Carson, Ben Sidran and Dick Hindman, guitarist Vic Juris and steel drum wizard Andy Narell getting plenty of solo space. With the exception of a duet version of "America the Beautiful" with Hindman, the altoist/leader's repertoire is less off-the-wall than usual but he is in good form on such tunes as "Sunday in New York," Charles Mingus's "Peggy's Blue Skylight" and his own "Take the Cole Train." On two songs Cole overdubbed himself on six additional saxes, calling it the "Mega-Universal Saxophone Orchestra." 

~ Scott Yanow http://www.allmusic.com/album/signature-mw0000198518

Personnel: Richie Cole (alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone); Vic Juris (guitar); Tee Carson (piano, maracas); Ben Sidran, Dick Hindman (piano); Keith Jones (electric bass); Mel Brown (drums); Andy Narell (steel drum); Babatunde (percussion).

Signature

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Ben Sidran - Old Songs For The New Depression

Styles: Vocal And Piano Jazz
Year: 1982
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 37:41
Size: 87,4 MB
Art: Front

(4:19)  1. Let's Get Away From It All
(4:22)  2. Easy Street
(5:26)  3. Old Folks
(5:00)  4. Turn To The Music
(4:48)  5. Steady Eddie
(3:08)  6. Making Whoopie
(2:16)  7. Piano Players
(4:28)  8. Dark Night
(3:50)  9. Nostalgia In Times Square

Competent fusion and light jazz outing from vocalist/composer and keyboardist (as well as journalist and broadcaster) Ben Sidran. 

He sings and plays in sometimes pleasing, other times inconsequential fashion, while the songs are expertly produced and casually performed.~Ron Wynn http://www.allmusic.com/album/old-songs-for-the-new-depression-mw0000200508

Personnel: Ben Sidran (vocals, piano); Richie Cole (alto saxophone); Bob Malach (tenor saxophone); Marcus Miller (bass); Buddy Williams (drums); Jerry Alexander (background vocals).

Old Songs For The New Depression

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Ben Sidran - Nick's Bump

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 48:08

Size: 110.2 MB

Styles: Smooth jazz

Year: 2003

Art: Front

[3:28] 1. Little Sherry

[4:34] 2. Cryin' Blues

[7:11] 3. Black Jack

[5:01] 4. Blue Panther

[0:20] 5. The Cats

[5:57] 6. Zambia

[5:07] 7. Mean Greens

[5:50] 8. Listen Here

[6:31] 9. Blue Minor

[4:04] 10. Nick's Bump

Groove-oriented jazz didn't start with the organ combos and soul-jazz groups of the '60s and '70s; plenty of grooving occurred with Dixieland in the '10s and '20s and swing in the '30s and early to mid-'40s. But soul-jazz did remind the jazz world that it was still OK for an improviser to groove -- that not everything had to be as complex and demanding as John Coltrane's "Giant Steps" or Sonny Rollins' "Oleo." And those soul-jazz and jazz-funk grooves of the '60s and '70s continue to hold up well after all these years, which is why Ben Sidran celebrates that era on this 2003 date. Although Sidran is known for his singing, he favors an instrumental setting on Nick's Bump; this time, Sidran uses the Hammond organ and the electric piano to get his points across -- and he savors the funkier side of post-swing jazz whether he is embracing Sonny Clark's "Blue Minor," Donald Byrd's "Black Jack," or three Eddie Harris compositions ("Listen Here," "Mean Greens," and "Cryin' Blues"). If Nick's Bump sounds dated, it is dated in the positive sense -- dated as in remembering how rewarding a particular era was and being faithful to the spirit of that era. Nick's Bump recalls a time when soul-jazz players realized that jazz was losing more and more listeners to R&B and rock -- and that the only way to win over those Marvin Gaye, Rolling Stones, and James Brown fans was to groove and be accessible. Soul-jazz, unfortunately, didn't restore the mass appeal that jazz enjoyed during the Great Depression and World War II, but it was a noble effort -- one that Sidran happily remembers on Nick's Bump, which falls short of essential but is still an infectious, enjoyably funky demonstration of what he can do in an instrumental setting. ~Alex Henderson

Nick's Bump

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Ben Sidran - Free In America

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 34:09
Size: 78.2 MB
Styles: Smooth jazz, Vocal jazz
Year: 1976/2008
Art: Front

[3:00] 1. Feel Your Groove
[3:28] 2. After Midnight
[4:27] 3. Sunday Kind Of Love
[3:25] 4. Let's Make A Deal
[3:33] 5. Beg For It (The Real Thing)
[4:35] 6. New York State Of Mind
[3:09] 7. You Talk Too Much
[4:26] 8. The Cuban Connection
[4:03] 9. Free In America

Free in America is Ben Sidran's fifth album overall and his debut for Arista Records, and showcases him moving to an even more eclectic margin where the lines between jazz -- contemporary and classic -- blue-eyed soul, and sophisticated pop begin to blur into one another. He had long established himself as an eclectic songwriter and interpreter, but here, cramming so many different types of songs onto a single album was, depending on your point of view, either the work of a visionary, or an egotistical exercise in excess for its own sake. Time bears the truth: it was the former. All of it comes together in a jarring but seamless whole that juxtapose Louis Prima's "Sunday Kind of Love," Billy Joel's "New York State of Mind," Reggie Hall and Joe Jones' R&B classic "You Talk Too Much," J.J. Cale's "After Midnight," and some of Sidran's most memorable originals. As usual, Sidran hired brilliant studio players to realize this difficult undertaking: the Brecker Brothers, Phil Upchurch, Sonny Seals, Woody Shaw, James Cooke, Bill Meeker, David "Fathead" Newman, Richard Tee, Gary Zappa, and Henry Gibson all make appearances, as do backing vocalists Kitty and Vivian Haywood, Mary Ann Stewart, Gavin Christopher, and Jerry Alexander, and Les Hooper did the string arrangements. Highlights include the Hall-Jones number. That song is commonly associated with Clarence Carter and earlier Frankie Ford, but Sidran's version was adapted form an obscure Latin boogaloo single by Javier Batiz in the mid-'60s. As if to underscore that, Sidran follows it with one of his greatest instrumentals, the bubbling cooker "The Cuban Connection," that marries Afro-Cuban jazz to Horace Silver, rock, and post-bop. The version of "After Midnight" is darker, steamier, funkier, and far more nocturnal than Eric Clapton's. The backing vocals add a raw sensuality to the track that is absent from all other versions. "New York State of Mind," is as convincing -- and less nostalgic -- than its composers, and includes a killer trumpet solo by Woody Shaw. Finally Sidran's bookend cuts, "Feel Your Groove," (a redo of the title track from his first album), and the title cut from this set, offer his wildly original lyric conceptions as the ultimate urban hipster romantic who looks at everything with a cool, detached comedic eye, even though his heart is on fire with a lust for the totality of experience. The disco horn section in the track extrapolates a familiar Elton John chorus and turns it into something more sophisticated, closer to the street, and more desirable. Time has been kind to most of Sidran's catalog: Free in America is one of its shining entries. ~Thom Jurek

The year was 1976, the bicentential birthday of America, and I wanted to make the point that "the nicest thing about the United States / everybody is free to make their own mistakes / it might not sound like much but it will do in the clutch / step right up sucker it's your turn to touch". (Little known historical fact: this album contains the first ever recording of Billy Joel's "New York State of Mind"). ~Ben

Free In America

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Clementine - Clementine Sings Ben Sidran

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 31:48
Size: 72.8 MB
Styles: Jazz vocals
Year: 2009
Art: Front

[3:09] 1. At Least We Got To The Race
[3:45] 2. You're Looking At Me
[3:00] 3. Solar
[3:05] 4. Let's Call The Whole Thing Off
[2:51] 5. Fullness Of Time
[3:21] 6. Lately
[3:05] 7. When I Fall In Love
[2:24] 8. Doop Doop Song
[4:15] 9. Searching
[2:49] 10. What A Wonderful World

Clementine - Vocals; Sylvain Beuf - Saxophone; Alain Jean-Marie - Piano; David Levray - Bass; Tony Rabeson - Drums; Ben Sidran - Vocals.

The Clementine catalog contains many variations on Ben Sidran songs but this is the only time the French singer recorded them with her own band in Paris. For a composer, it is always a pleasure to hear one's music performed by skilled musicians with a fresh take.

Clementine Sings Ben Sidran

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Ben Sidran, Clementine - Going Uptown: Clementine Meets Ben Sidran

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 37:19

Size: 85.5 MB

Styles: Jazz vocals

Year: 2011

Art: Front

[2:47] 1. I Fall In Love Too Easily

[3:09] 2. At Least We Got To The Race

[3:45] 3. You're Looking At Me

[3:00] 4. Solar

[3:05] 5. Let's Call The Whole Thing Off

[2:43] 6. Tea For Two

[2:51] 7. Fullness Of Time

[3:21] 8. Lately

[3:05] 9. When I Fall In Love

[2:25] 10. Doop Doop Song

[4:15] 11. Searching

[2:49] 12. What A Wonderful World

Clémentine Mitz is a French jazz singer who is best known in Japan. Also briefly signed to Go Jazz Records, releasing two albums (one recorded in the U.S.), and collaborated with Taro Hakase and French DJ Stéphane Pompougnac.

Ben Sidran is widely recognized as the host of National Public Radio’s landmark jazz series “Jazz Alive”, which received a Peabody Award, and as the host of VH-1 television’s “New Visions” series, which received the Ace Award for best music series. A pianist, producer, singer and composer, he has recorded more than thirty solo albums, including the Grammy nominated Concert for Garcia Lorca, and produced recordings for such noted artists as Van Morrison, Diana Ross, Michael Franks, Rickie Lee Jones, Mose Allison and Steve Miller (with whom he co-wrote the hit song “Space Cowboy”). He is the composer of the soundtrack for the acclaimed film Hoop Dreams, and scored the documentary Vietnam: Long Time Coming, which won both the Aspen Film Festival audience award and an Emmy. Sidran has authored two books on the subject of jazz, Black Talk, a cultural history of the music, and Talking Jazz, a series of conversations with inspirational musicians. He holds a PhD. in American Studies from Sussex University, Brighton, England, but has studiously avoided the academic life, preferring instead to spend his time performing, producing and writing. His latest works include the memoir, A Life in the Music and the groundbreaking text There Was a Fire: Jews, Music and the American Dream, along with the recordings Dylan Different and Don’t Cry For No Hipster.

Clementine Meets Ben Sidran

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Ben Sidran - Cien Noches (One Hundred Nights At The Cafe Central)

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 64:54

Size: 148.6 MB

Styles: Jazz vocals, B3 Organ jazz

Year: 2008

Art: Front

[ 1:35] 1. Welcome To The Central

[ 5:14] 2. Gotta Serve Somebody

[ 7:39] 3. Take Me To The River

[ 5:04] 4. Drinkin' N Thinkin'

[ 6:29] 5. A Room In The Desert

[ 5:50] 6. Straight No Chaser

[ 0:22] 7. Something For You To Do

[ 7:14] 8. See That Rock

[ 5:47] 9. Subterranean Homesick Blues

[ 8:57] 10. Folio

[10:37] 11. Cave Dancing

This is Ben Sidran's first Hammond B3 organ project. It's an instrument he has played for forty years, and occasionally (as on his recent radio-friendly CD Nick's Bump) featured on recordings. But CIEN NOCHES -- the title refers to the fact that over a period of ten years he performed one hundred nights at Madrid's famed Cafe Central -- is the first time he has paid direct tribute to the instrument and the club scene it spawned.

The album includes the original songs "Get It Yourself," an acerbic commentary on the rock and roll industry, and "Cave Dancing," an extended parable of jazz and the roots of religion. In addition, it features two Bob Dylan classics, "Gotta Serve Somebody" and "Subterranean Homesick Blues," along with saxophonist Bob Rockwell's "Drinkin' and Thinkin," an obvious party favorite.

Sidran is no stranger to combining jazz, party music and story telling. Raised in the industrial lakeshore city of Racine, Wisconsin, while still in high school, he went to Madison, the home of the University of Wisconsin, to play with his own jazz trio and soon joined a Southern comfort party band led by frat boy singer Steve Miller and his Texas friend, Boz Scaggs. He eventually penned the lyrics for Miller's hit song "Space Cowboy" earning a place in rock history and royalties enough to cover his graduate education.

Cien Noches (One Hundred Nights At The Cafe Central)

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Various - Tell Me Something: The Songs Of Mose Allison

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 36:00
Size: 82.4 MB
Styles: Adult contemporary, Jazz/pop vocals
Year: 1996
Art: Front

[3:13] 1. Van Morrison - One Of These Days
[3:17] 2. Van Morrison - You Can Count On Me (To Do My Part)
[3:42] 3. Ben Sidran - If You Live
[3:24] 4. Georgie Fame - Was
[2:05] 5. Ben Sidran - Look Here
[3:21] 6. Georgie Fame - City Home
[2:11] 7. Ben Sidran, Georgie Fame - No Trouble Livin'
[2:57] 8. Ben Sidran - Benediction
[2:19] 9. Georgie Fame - Back On The Corner
[2:36] 10. Van Morrison - Tell Me Something
[1:59] 11. Van Morrison - I Don't Want Much
[2:39] 12. Van Morrison - News Nightclub
[2:12] 13. Van Morrison - Perfect Moment

Great idea on paper -- invite rock's Van Morrison, his then-organ/vocal-sidekick Georgie Fame, singer/pianist/producer Ben Sidran, and Mose Allison himself to compile a celebration of one of the most delightfully idiosyncratic songwriters of our time. And these are serious Allison buffs indeed, for they chose tunes from the back catalog that Mose rarely performed live in the '90s, with hardly a well-known Allison standard in the batch (the exception being "I Don't Want Much"). The hang-up is that Allison's own performances over the decades are so unique and right for their material that they pose a creative problem for anyone who wants to give these songs a different slant. Accordingly, with one exception, these guys fall back upon imitating the master, bowing low and not really saying anything new. Sidran is an outright Allison vocal clone -- he's got all of the slides, accents, and hip attitudes down pat -- though his piano doesn't sound anything like Allison's. Fame is not quite as literal, and he seems a bit stodgier by comparison. Meanwhile, Van the Man just does his own thing, paying little mind to the Mose manner, bending these tunes to his will, and pulling it off in style. Mose's participation consists of a couple of loose, chummy duets with Morrison on "I Don't Want Much" and "Perfect Moment." The band is a small combo that you can imagine playing in an English pub, with saxophonist Pee Wee Ellis and trumpeter Guy Barker giving the sound an R&B flavor. It's a good record actually, but it makes you aware of why there hadn't been many Mose tributes before. How can one compete when the creator is still alive and swinging? ~Richard S. Ginnell

Tell Me Something: The Songs Of Mose Allison

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Ben Sidran - Blue Camus

Styles: Vocal And Piano Jazz
Year: 2014
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 45:09
Size: 103,5 MB
Art: Front

(6:58)  1. Soso's Dream
(4:45)  2. Blue Camus
(3:13)  3. "A" Is For Alligator
(4:57)  4. King Of Harlem
(6:20)  5. Rocky's Romance
(4:32)  6. Wake Me When It's Over
(7:23)  7. There Used To Be Bees
(6:58)  8. Dees Dilemma

Blue Camus is the follow up to Don’t Cry For No Hisper.  If the latter spoke to the hipster’s inner monologue, this project reflects the external input source that the hipster has been taking in.  The references in Blue Camus go back almost one hundred years to Garcia Lorca’s poetry (referenced in “The King of Harlem”), Orwell’s fantastic fiction (found in “A is for Alligator”) and a bit more recently to Albert Camus’ philosophy of existentialism. So there is a direct connection from the February afternoon in Mexico when I began writing the songs for Don’t Cry For No Hisper, a somewhat autobiographical, jaundiced view of today’s world through the eyes of a jazz man who has been around for several decades, to Blue Camus.  The classic hipster, as I see him, with his roots going back deep into the jazz life, was a reader of literature and a lover of philosophy, particularly, during the bebop era of the 40s and 50s.  

The starting premise of Camus’ existentialism can be compared to jazz in that in both jazz and existentialism, we begin with a world of open possibilities and rely on our own experiences and emotions to figure out the next move, rather than what we are taught or by following some other theory.  For Camus (and the beboppers) all thought originates in action just as all jazz music originates in swing, not notes. We may be confused, but that could be the good news, because so much is clearly going amok, if we thought we knew what we were doing and that this was it, we’d be in even worse trouble than we already are.  Make sense?  No? Welcome to existentialism! In a world that appears to be swallowing itself whole, jazz and literature, combined here as Blue Camus, provide a starting point to ask some questions about where we are and resolve them in swing. http://bensidran.com/album/blue-camus

Personnel: Ben Sidran - Wurlitzer, Piano, Vocals; Leo Sidran - Drums; Billy Peterson – Bass; Ricky Peterson – Organ; Bob Rockwell – Saxophone, Trixie Waterbed – Backing Vocals

Blue Camus

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Ben Sidran - Mr. P's Shuffle

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 56:38
Size: 129.6 MB
Styles: Smooth jazz
Year: 1996
Art: Front

[5:29] 1. I'm Back
[4:31] 2. Like A Boat On The Water
[5:24] 3. Sentimental Journey
[4:51] 4. Get Happy
[5:16] 5. Jive Samba
[3:58] 6. I'm Not Talking
[2:25] 7. The Glory Of Love
[4:33] 8. Mr. P's Shuffle
[3:40] 9. Walk Right In
[8:21] 10. Lover Man
[4:02] 11. No Moon At All
[4:01] 12. Memory Lane

When I was a young man of 20, I played six nights a week for a period of several months at at club called The Tuxedo Lounge, one of the warmest musical environments I have known; several decades later, the club had changed its name to Mr. P's Place and I started playing there again; this recording is a document and a testament to that spirit of groove and return.

Ben Sidran - Piano, Vocals; Frank Morgan - Saxophone; Richard Davis - Bass; Clyde Stubblefield - Drums; Phil Upchurch - Guitar; Roscoe Mitchell - Saxophone; Ricky Peterson - Organ; Howard Levy Harmonica; Margie Cox - Vocals; Alejo Poveda - Percussion; Leo Sidran - Drums.

Mr. P's Shuffle

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