Quiet as its kept, Casey Sidwell is a nice guy, but he doesn’t want you to know that. He prefers to keep allowing people to use words like ‘assassin’ and ‘cold-blooded’ to describe him. Despite the dark humor and predominantly black attire though, Sidwell is a gifted musician, composer, producer and educator, with multiple decades of experience across numerous roles in the music industry.

Primarily known for his work as a bassist, Sidwell has brought his deep and supportive playing style to artists across all genres, backing hip hop and R&B artists like, Phonte, Blu and Exile, Eric Roberson, Anthony David, supporting singer-songwriters and pop artists like  Zach Heckendorf, the Fray, John Common, and Nina Storey, to working with jazz greats like Gerald Albright. “I really feel blessed to be able to work with so many amazing artists in so many different spaces,” says Sidwell, adding while laughing, “I think its just because I work hard and play simple parts.”

In 2013 Casey started what would become an 8 year stint with rock artist Dragondeer, touring the US and the world, and contributing as a writer and bassist on the albums, “Don’t That Feel Good” (2014), “If You Got the Blues” (2017), and “Across the Waves” (released in 2023).

Currently, Sidwell is the bassist for award-winning songwriter Megan Burtt, and appears on her upcoming album “The Witness” due out in 2024.

As an educator, Sidwell (also known as ‘Doc’ in some circles) has served as an instructor at DIME University in Denver, CO (2018) as well as Californiia College of Music in Pasadena, CA (2020-2022) and is always eager to talk music with people on their own musical learning journey. “You never stop learning, if you spend time playing music on any given day, you are almost certain to learn SOMEthing. Human beings are unique, and we all understand this stuff in slightly nuanced and different ways. Figuring out how people hear, see and interpret music can often provide a glimpse into how they interpret the world, and that is a pretty righteous thing.”

2024 is already shaping up to be an exciting year for Sidwell. In addition to Megan Burtt’s highly anticipated album, Casey recently released projects with beat making collective Colfax96 and a debut EP from an intriguing new project called Wizard Van, the brainchild of Sidwell and Aaron Holstein, better known as Electronic Music artist Vibesquad. “Wizard Van is exciting because we’re just making records, making music and putting it out,” said Sidwell, “and its all based on this mutual love and appreciation for so much different music, and we’re playing everything, it’s super organic, but it’s like also… BEATS! It’s kind of like a band I always wanted to be in. And obviously the name just evokes all the radness of an airbrushed van with a painting of a wizard on it…. so…”

In addition, Sidwell is an engaging radio DJ and broadcaster, hosting the Tuesday night edition of the Jazz Odyssey on Denver’s esteemed KUVO 89.3 FM from 2013-2017. He also enjoys long walks by the river, and his recent relocation to Longmont, CO from LA. His love languages are cats, art and NBA basketball.