I was invited to create music for the 175th anniversary celebration of Alma Mater, the University of Wisconsin. I ended up weaving together fragments of two iconic UW songs “On Wisconsin” and “Varsity” and wrote original score around it. 

The video was narrated by another Wisconsin alumnus, my friend the legendary Andre DeShields, which gave us a chance to spend a few days together in the studio. 

Watch the video here. 

“An irresistible series of timeless songs, each of which contributes to making What’s Trending Leo Sidran’s best record to date.” — Yazid Kouloughli, Jazz Magazine (France)

“What’s Trending is all about romanticism, joy and perfectly trussed grooves as an antidote to the ambient gloom, and a wise look at today’s world, its social networks, its pandemics and the next generation.” — David Koperhant, Jazz News (France)

“An affable, luminous album, brimming with love and humor... The general sensation is that of an author in his maturity, in the serenity of the experience and the state of grace.” — Fernando Neira, Un Disco Al Dia (Spain)

“Sidran grooves his way through the pitfalls of everyday life in a swinging and elegant way [...] showing impressively that he has long since become an accomplished chronicler of his environment.” — Thomas Splett, West Coast Soul (Germany)

I’m finishing the year in podcasts with Pete Min (last week) brad allen williams (this week) and Keyon Harrold (next week). 2024 will start off strong too. I’m not even sure if I should tell you… okay fine, I’ll tell you. Upcoming episodes will include Ani DiFranco, Hiromi, Saje, Lau Noah, and a special 10th anniversary episode at the end of January. So subscribe if you haven’t already, so you never miss an episode!

And my talk with Lawrence inspired the song “Good At Doin’ It” which can only be found on Soundcloud. I offer it to you, my friends, here.

All this experience making podcasts and news features has opened up some new possibilities for me.

I hosted live events for WBGO and Yamaha Artist services. You can watch a couple of them on YouTube.  Orrin Evans from July, Emmet Cohen and Houston Person from October.

And I wrote the liner notes for my friend, the talented (middle aged) trumpeter John Scrapper Sneider’s latest album, Sneid Remarks, which he made with his son, the talented (young) trumpeter David Sneider.

As a 47 year old father and husband, getting out on the road to sing my little songs in jazz clubs for jazz club money is not the most rational decision I could make. But I just love it. I have really enjoyed playing live more and more in recent years, and it’s such a treat to play with so many incredible musicians, and to connect with audiences. 

In fact, if you happen to be in New York, I have a few local shows coming up.

Friday, December 22 at Rockwood Music Hall
Friday, January 5 at Pete’s Candy Store
Thursday, February 1 at Barbes in Brooklyn

I played shows in New York throughout the year at Barbes, Rockwood, Pete’s Candy Store and Rizzoli Bookstore, joined by bassists Matt Clohesy, Rob Jost and Jordan Scannella, pianists Randy Ingram and Danny Fox, saxophonists John Ellis and Peter Hess, trumpeter Michael Leonhart and drummer Chris Stromquist and Lauren Henderson joined me to sing.

I played one absolutely fantastic hometown show in Madison with my old comrades pianist Tim Whalen, drummer Jamie Ryan, bassist John Christensen and saxophonist Al Falaschi.  IT LOOKED AND FELT LIKE THIS.

And I spent 3 weeks in April on the road with my Groovy French Band™ in Europe. SOME PROOF.

A nice review (in Catalan) from our show in Girona.

Traveling and playing with those guys is like being with family, and I am so excited to get back on the road with them in March for another few weeks of shows in France, Spain, Belgium and the UK. 

I referred to 2023 as Ben Sidran’s 80th Birthday Parade and had a great time performing with him in New York, Madison, Milwaukee, Chicago, Minneapolis, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Girona and London. 

There were some nice interviews and features about him and the shows along the way, like this article from El Pais in Madrid, this one from a little closer to home (Milwaukee), and a recent interview with him for the Fillius Jazz Archive. 

We were joined by bassists Alexis Cuadrado, Billy Peterson, and Tom Warburton; saxophonists Rick Margitza, Bill McHenry, Geof Bradfield and Anders Svanoe, our old friend Louka Patenaude in Madison and our new friend trumpeter Jamie Breiwick in Milwaukee. 

In addition to Ben’s new record, I also put my thumbprint on a few other studio related projects this year. I mixed my beloved friend Joy Dragland’s single “Little by Little”. 

And apparently I co-produced Michael Thurber’s solo album called Mental Wealth. It comes out early in 2024. Michael is one of the most naturally gifted, thoughtful and creative people I know and I’m so proud to be a part of his project. 

Bloomberg Digital hit me up to write music for the Masters in Business podcast which won best ADWEEK B2B podcast 2023.

And I did music for a few commercials along the way this year too, like this jammy jam for IBM (produced by my friends at Storefront Music), and this Leo Sayer cover for Osteo BiFlex (produced by my pals at Knock It Out music). 

I continued to update my licensing library with new tracks that were written this year, organized by genre. 

I’m finishing up the year as a substitute music producer at The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (covering for the talented Jack Deboe). This basically means I’ve been making songs for the show like this and generally trying to keep up with a steady stream of jokes on the Late Show slack chats.

And finally, I spent the first part of the year commuting once a week to the Long Island High School Of the Arts as a visiting artist in their sonic arts program. I don’t know if I managed to teach anything but I definitely learned a lot. 

I look forward to seeing what 2024 brings and wish you all a very happy new year!

Leo