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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZSIDRAN, Ben(b 14 August 1943, Chicago) Pianist, vocalist. Grew up in Racine WI; played piano age seven, played in local bands in high school, went to U of WI/Madison at 17, met Steve Miller and Boz Scaggs, was a member of an early Steve Miller Band mixing blues and rock. He attended the U. of Sussex in England, turning a PhD thesis into book Black Talk '71. He met Eric Clapton, Peter Frampton, the Rolling Stones; Frampton and Charlie Watts guested on his debut LP Feel Your Groove '71 on Capitol. I Lead A Life '72 and Puttin' In Time On Planet Earth '73 on Blue Thumb were jazz-funk, the last with ex-Stan Kenton sidemen Bill Perkins and Frank Rosolino; Don't Let Go '74 included 'She's Funny That Way' rendered Mose Allison-style. To Arista for Free In America '76, a nudge towards the commercial; back to jazz with The Doctor Is In '77, covers of 'Goodbye Pork Pie Hat' (Charles Mingus), 'Silver's Serenade' (Horace Silver). Bop-influenced jazz remained at the centre of LPs A Little Kiss In The Night '78 (with Blue Mitchell, Phil Woods, vocal version of Charlie Parker's 'Moose The Mooche' by Sidran and Jon Hendricks), Old Songs For The New Depression '82, Bop City '83 (collection of jazz themes e.g. 'Monk's Mood', 'Nardis' by Miles Davis, 'Big Nick' by John Coltrane etc), the last two on Antilles. He produced jazz TV shows, wrote magazine articles, became resident jazz critic of National Public Radio; he was moving away from bop repertory towards fusion; after Cat In The Hat for Horizon (A&M) he moved to Magenta, a division of Windham Hill: On The Cool Side '85 included Miller and Mac Rebennack; On The Live Side '86 Miller, Woods, Sidran on piano and Ricky Peterson on synth, bass and drums; both were made in Minnesota. Too Hot To Touch '88 on Windham Hill was billed as 'new contrasts in cool'. Mr. P.'s Shuffle '97 on Mobile Fidelity has Sidran's vocals and piano and heavy friends such as Frank Morgan, Richard Davis, Roscoe Mitchell and vocalist Margie Cox. He has written much of his own material, not an innovative artist but with many fans for his brand of jazz-oriented easy listening. He continued releasing about one album a year; Don't Cry For No Hipster in 2013 included 'Take A Little Hit', perhaps a cool jive glance at the times we have lived through. |