Musician/producer/composer Leo Sidran started making music at a very early age. The son of jazzman Ben Sidran, Leo grew up in Madison, Wisconsin surrounded by supportive people who encouraged him to pursue his creative interests. He started writing songs in elementary school, and by the time he was in high school, The Steve Miller Band had recorded a number of his songs. Many of them were released on their last studio album, Wide River (1993).
Leo attended the University of Wisconsin for history. In college, he also lived in Seville, Spain and began an ongoing love affair with Spain and Spanish-language music. He has released three bilingual solo albums, three albums with his band Joy and the Boy (they’re big in Japan, we swear), and one bilingual children’s album (recipient of a Parents’ Choice Award in 2004), and has produced numerous albums, many for his own Nardis Music label. While he’s proud of all his work, perhaps his most notorious production work to date is the song “Al Otro Lado Del Rio” which he produced and arranged with Jorge Drexler for the film Motorcycle Diaries. The song won an Academy Award in 2005.
That same year, Leo moved from the midwest to New York and began his relationship with Amber Music. Additionally, he began writing music for documentaries and films in earnest. To date, Leo has scored four feature length films, two with documentary director Peter Gilbert (Hoop Dreams).
Finally, Leo continues to perform on guitar, keyboard and drums. After his debut appearance at the Madrid jazz festival in 1998, the Spanish daily El Pais crowned Leo “the king of the shuffle”. As a drummer he has performed or recorded with such notable musicians as Phil Woods, Frank Morgan, Perico Sambeat, Bob Malach, Richie Cole, Phil Upchurch, Richard Davis, Steve Khan, Mike Maineiri, Dave Grusin, Ricky Peterson, Oscar Castro Neves, Howard Levy, Georgie Fame and Boz Scaggs. Leo continues to tour and record with the Ben Sidran Quartet (their work on the 1998 Concert For Garcia Lorca album was nominated for a Grammy).
