To learn more about Leo and his music and work, visit
http://www.leosidran.com
To learn more about Leo's podcast, visit
http://www.third-story.com
Leo Sidran is a multi instrumentalist musician, producer, arranger, composer, recording artist, and podcast host.
The Third Story podcast features long-form interviews with creative people of all types.
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.
He was born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin, which is sometimes referred to as 70 square miles surrounded by reality. His father, Ben Sidran, another multifaceted music man, provided my early musical sustenance. His mother, a weaver and travel agent, provided texture and safe passage.
He got his start writing songs professionally as a teenager when the Steve Miller Band recorded four of his songs for their 1993 Wide River album. His father was working with Miller at the time, which is how he made the connection, but even then, at the ripe old age of 15, he was interested in production. So, Steve invited him to play keyboards, guitars and drums on the record.
He co-produced the Academy Award Winning song, "Al Otro Lado Del Rio" from the film The Motorcycle Diaries with Jorge Drexler in 2005.
After the Oscar win, he made a move to Brooklyn and not only started producing records for other artists, but also composing music for film and television commercials amassing a catalog of 100s of major TV ads for clients like Coca-Cola, Visa, Lincoln, McDonalds, Stella Artois, Ford, Garnier and over a dozen film scores for outlets such as ESPN 30 for 30, Discovery, IFC, Sundance, and PBS.
As a drummer, he has played and recorded with jazz luminaries including Phil Woods, Howard Levy, David Fathead Newman, Clark Terry and Dave Grusin, and as an engineer he has worked with artists ranging from Snarky Puppy to Massive Attack.