Singer Kurt Elling returns ten years later to talk about gratitude, courage, Broadway’s Hadestown, and what it means to be in service of the music. A deep conversation about jazz, vocation, and why the artist’s job is not to perform but to manifest.

Café Central, one of Madrid’s most important jazz venues, is facing closure after more than forty years at the heart of the city’s cultural life. I look back at nearly three decades I spent playing that room with my father, Ben Sidran — and what it means when a place that shaped your life prepares to close its doors. Music, memory, and the fragile ecosystems that keep culture alive.

Guitarist and bassist Phil Upchurch was a musician’s musician who played on more than a thousand recordings. He passed away on November 23. My dad, Ben Sidran, was his friend and collaborator for over 50 years. In this episode, we remember Phil’s life and legacy: the sessions, the stories, the generosity, and the unmistakable sound that made him a foundational figure in American music. A tribute to a true original.

Singer-songwriter Madison Cunningham on the personal and artistic transformations behind her new album Ace, her early musical influences, navigating young adulthood, the difference between happiness and contentment, and how a “slow burn” approach has shaped her voice, her craft, and her career.