Ben Wikler, author of This Is the Plan, on humor, organizing, civic life, and the Wisconsin values that shaped his approach to democracy. A thoughtful discussion of community, political communication, and why, as Wikler says, "democracy is exhausting until you discover solidarity."
A conversation with Ben Sidran, from Greece on America's 250th birthday, about jazz, democracy, identity, and what remains when the scaffolding begins to shake.
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.
Saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin on mentorship, perseverance, and the making of her new album, We Dream.
To mark what would have been his 100th birthday today, I’m revisiting a rare 1986 conversation between Miles and my dad, Ben Sidran, recorded on the terrace of Miles’ Malibu home.
Mexican icon Julieta Venegas on how growing up in Tijuana - a border city suspended between Mexico and the United States - gave her an instinct for living “in-between,” both musically and personally.
Here she reflects on what it means to be norteña, and the long journey that led her out of Tijuana and ultimately back home. This month, Venegas releases both a new album, Norteña, and a memoir, Norteña: Memorias del comienzo. Together, they form what she describes as “the biggest puzzle I’ve put together in my whole career.”
Dida Pelled on her journey from Tel Aviv to New York, where she evolved from a jazz guitarist into a multifaceted artist - singer, songwriter, bandleader, and radio host. She discusses her latest album I Wish You Would, her approach to tradition, identity, finding a personal voice across genres, discovering the truth about her sexuality, her singing, and the six strings she loves so much.
Singer, songwriter, and founder of Song For You, Emily Cavanagh on music, service, resilience, and finding purpose in uncertain times. In the early days of the pandemic, Emily began calling hospitals with one simple question: “Does anyone need a song?”
At The Tell, Michael Leviton curates a monthly night of unscripted storytelling where the audience never knows what’s coming. The result is an intimate, unpredictable experience that speaks to the enduring power of stories—and the people who tell them.
A conversation with Janis Siegel leads to a deeper reflection on speech, fear, and the subtle ways freedom can erode. Through the lens of jazz, memory, and history: what happens when people begin to hesitate—and why speaking still matters.
Part personal story, part philosophical inquiry, and part behind-the-scenes look at how creative work actually gets made, chronicling the process of preparing a gig with Ben Sidran. Drawing on conversations with musicians like Gil Goldstein, Howard Levy, and Jacob Collier.
Phoebe Katis on success and arrival, the value of side hustles, pop music as a delivery system for truth, how to build a creative life without asking your art to carry everything.and what it means to keep “coming of age” well into adulthood.
Singer, songwriter, producer Keren Ann on creativity, discipline, and what it really takes to make art over a lifetime. She talks about growing up between languages and cultures, about solitude, songwriting, and the moment when motivation stops working and discipline takes over.
Dan Pashman, creator of The Sporkful podcast, on building a creative career from the ground up after years of radio layoffs and false starts, creative obsession, podcasting as a business, food as culture, and what Pashman sees as a key to his success: “Never underestimate the power of desperation.”
Singer Kurt Elling returns ten years later to talk about gratitude, courage, Broadway’s Hadestown, and what it means to be in service of the music. A deep conversation about jazz, vocation, and why the artist’s job is not to perform but to manifest.
Café Central, one of Madrid’s most important jazz venues, is facing closure after more than forty years at the heart of the city’s cultural life. I look back at nearly three decades I spent playing that room with my father, Ben Sidran — and what it means when a place that shaped your life prepares to close its doors. Music, memory, and the fragile ecosystems that keep culture alive.
Guitarist and bassist Phil Upchurch was a musician’s musician who played on more than a thousand recordings. He passed away on November 23. My dad, Ben Sidran, was his friend and collaborator for over 50 years. In this episode, we remember Phil’s life and legacy: the sessions, the stories, the generosity, and the unmistakable sound that made him a foundational figure in American music. A tribute to a true original.
Singer-songwriter Madison Cunningham on the personal and artistic transformations behind her new album Ace, her early musical influences, navigating young adulthood, the difference between happiness and contentment, and how a “slow burn” approach has shaped her voice, her craft, and her career.
Singer Theo Bleckmann on growing up in Germany, training as a soprano and figure skater before discovering jazz and moving to New York to study with Sheila Jordan, building a life in music, collaborating with artists like Meredith Monk, Laurie Anderson, and Ben Monder, community, teaching, queerness, and the meaning of “a life in music” rather than “a career in jazz,” and his new album Love & Anger.
Singer-songwriter dodie on growing up online, setting boundaries, mental health, and finding peace in her new album Not For Lack of Trying.
Fifty years ago, an 18-year-old concert German promoter named Vera Brandes helped make one of the most iconic nights in jazz history possible - Keith Jarrett’s The Köln Concert. Here Vera shares the unbelievable true story behind that night, and the new film Köln 75 that brings it to life.
Singer songwriter Jacob Jeffries on being an emerging artist after 20 years in the business. A conversation about loss, collaboration, and finding yourself again through music. Plus, working with Vulfpeck and his new album You Got The Right Idea.
Spanish actress and singer Leonor Watling is best known internationally for her role in Pedro Almodóvar’s Talk to Her, but she has also built a long parallel career in music as the frontwoman of the band Marlango, releasing seven albums and touring the world.
Here she talks about her life between cultures—born in Madrid to a Spanish father and an English mother raised in Africa—her early awareness of mortality, her rise to fame on television and film, and her years balancing music, acting, and motherhood, and her latest project, LEO & LEO.
Stella Cole went from nearly giving up singing in college to becoming one of the breakout stars of the pandemic era, thanks to her viral performances of American Songbook standards on TikTok. Now signed to Decca and releasing her new album It’s Magic, she talks about following her instincts, finding her voice, and turning childhood obsessions into a career.
Every year on his birthday, my dad and I sit down for a conversation. It started when he turned 76 and we’ve done it ever since - capturing an ongoing record of where his head and heart are at that particular moment.
This year, as Ben turns 82, the theme that emerges is that he is “still auditioning for the role of myself.” We talk about what it means to keep creating, to stay curious, and to hold on to your sense of fun as the outside world speeds up and your personal world contracts.
Editor, writer, and producer Mary Sweeney returns for a follow-up conversation seven years after her first appearance, reflecting on the loss of David Lynch, her evolving creative identity, and the process of letting go and moving forward. Recorded in Paris, this intimate talk explores memory, meaning, and transformation.
Singer, songwriter, drummer, organist Moses Patrou has spent the past twenty-five years in New York, carving out a unique space as a multi-instrumentalist and bandleader. Here he reflects on the long road behind his new record Confession of a Fool - a soulful and striking record that represents the culmination of a lifetime in music - and what it means to make a defining statement at midlife.
Songwriter and producer Joe Henry on a lifetime chasing poetic truth through music, a career bridging tradition and experimentation, producing landmark albums and releasing his own deeply literary, genre-blurring records.
Aron! is a 22-year-old singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist whose music sounds like it slipped through a time warp. Here he talks about writing songs that sound old but feel new, his cozy you (and other nice songs) EP which began as a student project and ended up on Verve Records, navigating sudden success, and staying grounded in the swirl of algorithms, aesthetics, and authenticity.
On his 83rd birthday, Ben Sidran revisits a 1974 DownBeat profile (when he was 30) and considers what has changed, and what hasn’t, over more than half a century of music and life.