Singer and composer Theo Bleckmann has spent his career between categories - jazz and avant-garde, improvisation and composition, structure and discovery. Born in Germany, he began as a boy soprano and figure skater before discovering jazz and moving to New York to study with Sheila Jordan. Since then, he's built a singular life in music, collaborating with artists like Meredith Monk, Laurie Anderson, and Ben Monder.

Here he talks about community, teaching, queerness, and the meaning of "a life in music" rather than "a career in jazz." He also talks about his new album Love & Anger, produced by Ulysses Owens Jr., which bridges Kate Bush and the Beatles, Frank Ocean and original compositions - all infused with curiosity, empathy, and mystery.

This episode is supported by Musication, providing in-home music lessons in Brooklyn and Manhattan to children ages 3yrs old and up. Email lessons@musication.nyc and mention "The Third Story" to receive two free trial lessons.

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British singer-songwriter dodie has spent half her life in public. Long before algorithms and engagement metrics ruled the day, she began posting homemade songs and videos on YouTube as a teenager from Essex. Her soft voice, self-effacing humor, and unfiltered honesty drew millions of viewers who watched her grow up online—sharing heartbreaks, mental-health struggles, and moments of joy in real time.

Fifteen years later, that same authenticity anchors her second album, Not For Lack of Trying (Decca / Verve), a project that finds her looking inward with more clarity and balance than ever. Produced with Joe Rubel, the record feels both intimate and expansive, blending hushed guitars, clarinets, and a subtle electronic pulse beneath lyrics about healing, boundaries, and learning to feel okay.

Here she talks about what it means to grow up online, how she learned to protect her private life, and the long road to emotional equilibrium. She opens up about the strange feedback loop of being praised for her pain, the decision to step back from constant posting, and the discovery that medication, therapy, and time have finally helped her feel "a bit better."

She discusses the making of Not For Lack of Trying, her collaboration with friends like Greta Isaac and producer Joe Rubel, and the sonic choices that define her sound - the low rumble of drop-tuned guitars and the warmth of analog synths supporting a voice that seems to hover just above the mix. "When I'm writing," she says, "I'm not aiming for how it sounds. I'm aiming for how it feels—I just want to get goosebumps."

Along the way, dodie reflects on the evolution from being a "special girl" with a ukulele and a webcam to becoming a full-fledged artist with more than a billion streams, seven million followers, and a place on Forbes' 30 Under 30 list. Through it all, she's still trying, still curious, still kind, still chasing that feeling.

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www.wbgo.org/podcast/the-third-story

The Köln Concert by Keith Jarrett is one of the most iconic recordings in jazz history — a completely improvised solo piano performance, recorded in 1975, that became both the best-selling solo album and the best-selling piano album of all time. And yet, the concert almost didn't happen.

The new film Köln 75, directed by Brooklyn-based filmmaker Ido Fluk, tells the remarkable true story behind that night through the eyes of Vera Brandes, the 18-year-old German concert promoter whose persistence and intuition made it possible. Against all odds - and with only a broken, nearly unplayable piano to work with - Brandes helped turn what could have been a disaster into a historic moment that continues to resonate fifty years later.

Here Vera Brandes shares her memories of that night and her reflections on the making of Köln 75, which captures not only a pivotal event in jazz but also a coming-of-age story set in a post-war Germany rebuilding its identity. The conversation explores how art, community, and chance intersect, how the myths, friendships, and behind-the-scenes stories give life to the music itself.

Narrative films about jazz are notoriously difficult to make, but Köln 75 manages to do the almost unthinkable: it's funny, urgent, and even sexy — a movie about a concert promoter trying to put on a show that somehow feels thrilling and alive.

www.third-story.com
leosidran.substack.com
wbgo.org/studios