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.
Read MoreSinger-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.
Read MoreSinger 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.
Read MoreSinger-songwriter dodie on growing up online, setting boundaries, mental health, and finding peace in her new album Not For Lack of Trying.
Read MoreFifty 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.
Read MoreSinger 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.
Read MoreSpanish 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.
Read MoreStella 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.
Read MoreEvery 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.
Read MoreEditor, 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.
Read MoreSinger, 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.
Read MoreSongwriter 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.
Read MoreAron! 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.
Read MoreGrammy-winning singer-songwriter Natalia Lafourcade on returning to her roots to redefine them—exploring duality, intimacy, and the radical empathy of music in her most personal work to date.
Read MoreDrummer, composer, and activist Terri Lyne Carrington on her early start, equity in jazz, mentorship, teaching at Berklee, rethinking jazz and gender, and and her new album We Insist 2025! with Christie Dashiell, a reimagining of Max Roach’s protest 1960 suite.
Read MoreSinger, songwriter, producer pablopablo - aka Pablo Drexler- on how he found his own voice, sound, and artistic identity. His debut full-length album, Canciones en mi, is out now. The title is a bilingual play on words—“in E” (as in the musical key), and “in me”—and it perfectly captures the spirit of the record: introspective, expressive, and sonically bold.
Read MoreTwenty years ago, “Al otro lado del río” became the first Spanish-language song to win an Oscar. Here we revisit that historic night with the song’s composer Jorge Drexler and the people in the immediate circle who watched it go down. They explore the song’s unexpected journey, the impact of its win, and how memory shapes our understanding of the past.
Read MoreLegendary singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega on early hits, enduring legacy, and her new album Flying with Angels — a conversation about songwriting, truth-telling, and staying true to your voice.
Read MorePianist, composer, bandleader, and activist Arturo O’Farrill in a wide-ranging conversation that is both personal and political. The son of legendary Cuban composer Chico O’Farrill and father to musicians Adam and Zack O’Farrill, Arturo reflects on growing up between cultures, rejecting and then rediscovering his Latin roots, and how the search for artistic honesty has shaped his life.
Read MoreDancer, singer and band leader Max Pollak on the remarkable story of how he taught himself to dance in a place where no formal tap training existed. Early on, improvisation wasn’t just part of his style — it was the only way forward. That instinctive relationship with rhythm would become the foundation of his unique voice as an artist.
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