The Third Story podcast features long-form interviews with musicians and members of the creative class, hosted by me, Leo Sidran.
Their stories of discovery, loss, ambition, identity, improvisation, risk, and reward are deeply moving and compelling for all of us as we embark on our own creative journeys.
Most recent episode: Sullivan Fortner
Leo Sidran (photo by Tom Warburton)
Singer, composer and producer Sofia Rei talks with Leo Sidran about “Folk and Futurism,” rediscovering tradition from a distance, and how her collaborators and students continue to influence the music she makes.
Ashley Kahn talks about his new book Days of Miracle and Wonder which explores Paul Simon’s unconventional creative process and the complicated cultural and political questions that surrounded the making of Graceland.
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.
Pianist Sullivan Fortner on growing up in New Orleans, nearly choosing medicine over music, and the teachers and mentors who shaped him, from Barry Harris and Fred Hersch to his years playing with Roy Hargrove; his musical and personal partnership with Cécile McLorin Salvant, his fascination with sound and experimentation, and the making of Solo Game and Leave That In There.