Ben Sidran: Blue Camus

Great jazz, true jazz, is in the ears of the interpreter, whether player or listener. So Ben Sidran is fair in arguing that jazz and existentialism are kindred forces. On his website, the vocalist, keyboardist and songwriter acknowledges his previous album, 2013’s Don’t Cry for No Hipster, as a connecting point for Blue Camus. If, he posits, Hipster was about a jazz practitioner’s (or aficionado’s) inner monologues, then Camus “reflects the external input source that the hipster has been taking in.” Importing two of Hipster‘s contributors-son, frequent co-writer and drummer Leo Sidran, plus Leo’s singer wife Amanda (a.k.a. Trixie Waterbed)-Sidran adds two members of Minnesota’s celebrated Peterson family, Ricky on Hammond and brother Billy on bass, with guest appearances by saxophonist Bob Rockwell.