{"id":16943,"date":"2025-09-24T13:19:05","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T18:19:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/?p=16943"},"modified":"2025-09-24T13:58:39","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T18:58:39","slug":"ben-sidran-live-shows-weve-got-a-man-in-the-lighthouse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/?p=16943","title":{"rendered":"Ben Sidran live shows we’ve got a man in the lighthouse"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Ben Sidran \u2013 Are We There Yet? Live at the Sunside<\/em> (Nardis)<\/p>\n

You still can\u2019t beat live jazz. Accordingly, this is as close as you can get to the way the Madison-based jazz singer-songwriter-pianist lives through his playing. Sidran has dedicated his career to \u201cdemystifying the world of jazz,\u201d as an artist\/author\/public intellectual. \u201cJazz musicians are just like the rest of us, only more so,\u201d he has written. Those last three little words gleam pearls of wisdom. You might say, as of existential necessity, we all improvise through life. But jazzers raised improv to an art form, becoming guideposts of adventure, and lighthouses to the shore.<\/p>\n

Sometimes sirens of safety<\/em> on the shore: \u201cWhen the band shows up the mob becomes a parade,\u201d his liner note says with a pointed sense of timely relevance. That\u2019s why, still living and live<\/em> at 82 in a favorite French nightclub, Sidran remains so vital and significant to hear. \u00a0As a singer-philosopher he can bat around metaphors and tropes like a master tennis champion, with a sweet swing and follow-through in his delivery. \u201cYou Got to Picture Him Happy\u201d contemplates the long-suffering Sisyphus legend, \u201cIt\u2019s not what you do, it\u2019s how you do it\/ There\u2019s just the rock and that hill and that godawful sun.\u201d In other words, you can\u2019t give up, but strive for some style — beauty is truth? — to give power back to yourself, and others.<\/p>\n

Happy might have a chance, but there’s nothing Pollyanna about this man. It wouldn’t be a Sidran session without a nod to his foremost influence, Mose Allison, whose “Ever Since the World Ended” contemplates The Apocalypse with tender que sera.<\/em> “Ever since the world ended\/ things that seemed so splendid\/ don’t seem to matter anymore\/ it’s just as well the world ended\/ ’cause it wasn’t working anymore.”<\/p>\n

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Here’s a still from a YouTube video of Ben Sidran performing “I Might Be Wrong” from his latest album “Are We There Yet?” YouTube<\/em><\/p>\n

Ask yourself, how true does that lyric ring?<\/p>\n

Among his best current co-sharers is post-Coltrane tenor saxophonist Rick Margitza who solos with a sonic translator\u2019s synchronicity with Sidran\u2019s style. And Sidran can still play the piano like a prowling panther, perfectly befitting his funky hard-bop roots. His singing is suave and world-weary. He\u2019s still the quintessential hipster. But not hipper than thou, just heavily laced with wry. \u201cI\u2019m tired of being so hip\/ It\u2019s like waiting for a ship\/ that never comes in.\u201d We\u2019re lucky to have him still manning the lighthouse.<\/p>\n

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This review was originally published in The Shepherd Express:<\/em>\u00a0https:\/\/shepherdexpress.com\/music\/album-reviews\/are-we-there-yet-live-at-the-sunside-ben-sidran\/<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Ben Sidran \u2013 Are We There Yet? Live at the Sunside (Nardis) You still can\u2019t beat live jazz. Accordingly, this is as close as you can get to the way the Madison-based jazz singer-songwriter-pianist lives through his playing. Sidran … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2718,2126,1608,1240,2234],"class_list":["post-16943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-www-kevernacular-com","tag-are-we-there-yet","tag-ben-sidran","tag-mose-allison","tag-rick-margitza","tag-sisyphus"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2hJWE-4ph","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16943"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16957,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16943\/revisions\/16957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}