302: Ben Sidran at 82
The Third Story Podcast with Leo Sidran
Every year on his birthday, my dad and I sit down for a conversation. It started when he turned 76, and with a few exceptions, we’ve done it ever since - capturing an ongoing record of where his head and heart are at that particular moment. Over the years we’ve talked about music, memory, politics, travel, the craft of performing, and the art of living. These annual conversations have become a kind of time-lapse portrait: the same two people returning to the mic, but always a little changed. This year, as Ben turns 82, the theme that emerges is that he is “still auditioning for the...
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301: Mary Sweeney Returns
The Third Story Podcast with Leo Sidran
In 2018, film editor, producer, writer, and director Mary Sweeney sat down for a wide-ranging conversation about her career — from growing up in Madison, Wisconsin, to collaborating with one of the most visionary directors of our time, David Lynch. That conversation traced her evolution as an artist, her pivotal role in shaping films like Lost Highway, The Straight Story, and Mulholland Drive, and the intimate creative and personal relationship she shared with Lynch. Seven years later, in the wake of Lynch’s death in early 2025, Sweeney returns for a follow-up conversation, recorded in a...
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300: Moses Patrou
The Third Story Podcast with Leo Sidran
Moses Patrou has spent the past twenty-five years in New York, carving out a unique space as a multi-instrumentalist and bandleader. From early days in Madison, Wisconsin playing hand drums in hip hop bands, to immersing himself in Cuban and Brazilian traditions, to gigging across the city in every imaginable context, Patrou has done it all. During the pandemic, he taught himself to play organ—a transformation that has reshaped his sound and his role in the scene. Here he reflects on the long road behind his new record Confession of a Fool - a soulful and striking record that represents the...
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299: Joe Henry
The Third Story Podcast with Leo Sidran
For Joe Henry, truth in songwriting doesn’t come from confession or fact. It comes from presence, from listening, from surrender, from giving shape to the ineffable. As he puts it: “Total presence—that is the code of my road.” Henry’s road has taken him across both the literal and metaphorical map of American music. Born in North Carolina, raised in Georgia and Ohio, and coming of age in Ann Arbor, Michigan, he grew up suspended between North and South, white and Black, rural and urban. This early sense of duality, of living between poles, helped shape his identity and fed a lifelong...
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298 - Aron!
The Third Story Podcast with Leo Sidran
Aron! is only 22, but his music seems to exist outside of time. A singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist from North Carolina, he studied classical guitar, jazz voice, and film scoring—playing everything from indie rock in a college band to Nat King Cole covers in retirement homes—before landing on a sound that feels both old school and strikingly fresh. (He calls his sound “vintage pop”.) His debut EP cozy you (and other nice songs) began as a self-produced student project, recorded in a college studio with friends. It was completed before he signed with Verve Records—one of...
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297: Natalia Lafourcade
The Third Story Podcast with Leo Sidran
Over the past two decades, Natalia Lafourcade has evolved from alt-pop prodigy to one of the most revered voices in Latin American music. With 15 Latin Grammys and 4 Grammys to her name, she’s known for blending contemporary expression with deep cultural roots. Her latest album, Cancionera, is a bold new statement—a stripped-down, emotionally direct record that draws on her Veracruz heritage, the son jarocho tradition, and a mystical alter ego she calls La Cancionera. In this conversation, Natalia reflects on the power of presence, the value of silence, and her decision to perform...
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296: Terri Lyne Carrington
The Third Story Podcast with Leo Sidran
Terri Lyne Carrington has spent her life behind the drums—and out in front. In this wide-ranging conversation, the Grammy-winning musician, educator, and activist reflects on her remarkable journey from child prodigy to visionary bandleader, and from mentee to mentor. She shares stories from her early gigs with jazz legends like Clark Terry and Buddy Rich, her formative years with Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter, and her ongoing work shaping the next generation through the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice. We spoke on the occasion of We Insist 2025!, Carrington’s powerful new...
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295 - pablopablo
The Third Story Podcast with Leo Sidran
pablopablo - born Pablo Drexler - is a Madrid-based singer, songwriter, and producer. The son of two acclaimed artists, Jorge Drexler and Ana Laan, here he talks about how he found his own voice, sound, and artistic identity. His debut full-length album, Canciones en mi, is out now. The title is a bilingual play on words—“in E” (as in the musical key), and “in me”—and it perfectly captures the spirit of the record: introspective, expressive, and sonically bold. Pablo shares the story of growing up in a small town outside Madrid with a big, multilingual worldview. We discuss...
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288: Crossing the river - 20 years of "Al otro lado del rio"
The Third Story Podcast with Leo Sidran
Twenty years ago, “Al otro lado del río" became the first Spanish-language song to win an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Written by Jorge Drexler in a single day while staying in Madison, Wisconsin, and recorded in a mix of home and studio settings, the song’s journey was as unexpected as its lyrics suggested. At the time, it felt like an anomaly. This year, when “El Mal” from Amelia Perez won the same award, it barely registered as unusual. That alone says something about how much can shift in 20 years—culturally, personally, globally. Here we revisit that historic night...
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294: Suzanne Vega
The Third Story Podcast with Leo Sidran
Legendary singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega looks back at her remarkable career — and forward to her new album, Flying with Angels, her first collection of original songs in nearly a decade. From the moment she emerged in the 1980s with her self-titled debut and follow-up Solitude Standing, Vega has occupied a singular space in popular music. Known for her literate lyrics, calm delivery, and understated innovation, she became an unlikely pop star with songs like “Luka” — a devastating portrait of abuse — and “Tom’s Diner,” which began as an a cappella sketch and became a surprise...
info_outlineWhen he was five years old, Max Pollak had a moment. Sitting in front of a black-and-white television in suburban Vienna, he saw Fred Astaire tap dancing for the first time. “I was so spellbound by his elegance and his effortless swinging persona that I immediately decided I have to learn how to do that,” he remembers.
He didn’t understand the cultural context or the language, but he knew that whatever was happening on that screen — the rhythm, the movement, the magic — was something he had to pursue.
That moment sparked a lifelong journey that would take him from Austria to Harlem to Havana and back again.
Here, Max Pollak tells the remarkable story of how he taught himself to dance in a place where no formal tap training existed. Early on, improvisation wasn’t just part of his style — it was the only way forward. That instinctive relationship with rhythm would become the foundation of his unique voice as an artist.
At 14, Pollak met his first mentor: Carnell Lyons, a master tap dancer from Kansas City who had relocated to Europe during the civil rights era. Lyons had grown up alongside Charlie Parker and had performed with jazz legends. He passed on not only the technical language of tap, but a deep awareness of the art form’s Black American roots. That relationship shaped the way Max approached dance — not just as choreography, but as culture.
After moving to New York, Max began studying drums and enrolled in Bobby Sanabria’s Afro-Cuban ensemble at The New School. It was there that he was asked the question that would redefine his artistic path: Do you want to tap dance to Cuban music — or do you want to tap dance Cuban music?
Inspired by that challenge, Pollak dove into Afro-Cuban music, learning the language of clave and fusing it with tap, body percussion, and voice. The result was RumbaTap — a groundbreaking synthesis of traditions that bridges continents and cultures. When members of the legendary Los Muñequitos de Matanzas saw Max perform, they asked him to teach them. That moment affirmed the authenticity of his approach and led to collaborations in Cuba that brought him closer to the source of the music he had been drawn to for so long.
Today, Max Pollak is widely recognized as one of the most innovative tap dancers in the world. His contributions to the language of tap, particularly in blending it with Afro-Cuban music and body percussion, have earned him international recognition — including the rare honor of having his image featured on a United States postage stamp. He’s also a vocalist, drummer, composer, and storyteller. This week, he celebrates the 25th anniversary of RumbaTap with a special performance at 92NY, featuring members of Los Muñequitos.
This episode came together unexpectedly, sparked by a tip from bassist and composer Alexis Cuadrado, who sent me the press release for the 92NY concert. I reached out to Max for a short interview — and the conversation turned out to be so rich and wide-ranging that I decided to share it in full.
We talk about lineage, improvisation, spirituality, and what happens when you follow the rhythm only you can hear.
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