Jazz and Modernism: Architecture as Frozen Music with Ben and Leo Sidran

Experience Ben and Leo Sidran in concert and conversation at the iconic Hillside Theater at Taliesin! The harmonic structures used by American jazz musicians are remarkably similar to those used by 20th century American architects. Both helped create a new sense of the future that was born in the 1920’s and flourished in the 1960’s, sending an aesthetic message to the world and ushering in a new era of style, cool, and transformation. From Louis Armstrong to Miles Davis, Frank Lloyd Wright to William Krisel, how these two parallel 20th-century modernist movements, jazz and architecture, reshaped cultural landscapes by rethinking form, function, and the relationship between tradition and innovation.

Over 55 years and 40 albums, including the Grammy nominated Concert for Garcia Lorca, Ben Sidran’s live repertoire has been a fluid collection of songs and stories. His performances are legendary for their mixture of swing, groove, and free-form philosophy, always infused with humor and hipster wisdom.