Ben Sidran is a jazz pianist, music producer and writer based in Madison, Wisconsin. Sidran
was born to Louis and Shirley Sidran in Chicago in 1943. He spent the majority of his
childhood in Racine, Wisconsin, before attending the University of Wisconsin – Madison
between 1961 and 1967. During his time there, Sidran began playing regularly with other
musicians on campus such as Steve Miller and Boz Scaggs. Sidran received a masters degree
from the University of Sussex in 1968, and completed a PhD in 1970. He married his wife,
Judy, in 1969. They moved to Los Angeles in 1970, where Sidran's first album, "Feel Your
Groove," was recorded. In 1971, they returned to Madison, where Sidran was to remain for the
rest of his career.
During the 1970s, Sidran released eight further albums, and produced records for artists
such as the Steve Miller Band, Tony Williams and Jon Hendricks. Sidran established his own
production company, Bulldog Productions, Inc. He wrote his first book, "Black Talk," and had
articles published in Rolling Stone magazine. He also worked in television, presenting a
late night talk show called The Weekend Starts Now and organizing several live television
concerts by artists such as Dizzy Gillespie.
In the 1980s, he continued to work as a recording artist and producer, working on albums by
Steve Miller and Mose Allison. He also continued to work in radio and television, presenting
the "Sidran on Record" series on NPR and the "New Visions" television series on VH-1. His
radio work included interviewing many leading Jazz musicians and music producers.
In 1989, Ben Sidran established Go Jazz Records, which published albums throughout the
1990s by artists such as Bob Malach, Clementine, Ricky Peterson, Gege Telesforo, Phil
Upchurch and Georgie Fame. His work as a producer included projects by Mose Allison, Van
Morrison and Diana Ross. Sidran's own albums included "Life's a Lesson" (1993), which
combined jazz and traditional Jewish music, and "A Concert for Garcia Lorca" (1998). In
1994, he produced the soundtrack for the documentary film "Hoop Dreams."
In 2003, Ben Sidran released his autobiography, titled "Ben Sidran: a life in the music."
Also in 2003, he established Nardis Music with his son and regular collaborator Leo Sidran,
and served as artist-in-residence at UW-Madison. In 2011, he published "There Was a Fire:
Jews, Music and the American Dream," a history of the role of Jewish people in the
development of American popular music. Ben Sidran continues to record and perform from his
home in Madison, with his most recent album being "Swing State" (2022).
