sideman
Americannoun
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sidemen
plural
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an instrumentalist in a band or orchestra.
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an instrumentalist supporting a soloist or a principal performer.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of sideman
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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Bruce Hornsby, a Virginia pianist and later a sideman with the Grateful Dead, was rejected some 70 times by the music industry before he found his professional footing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 6, 2026
In part, that can be attributed to the fact that Haynes rarely led his own groups, spending most of his time as a first-call sideman.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 12, 2024
The main distinction is that Esposito is the lead as opposed to the sideman, a designation that he should have received much earlier in his career.
From Salon ● Mar. 31, 2024
He came roaring out of Pittsburgh with a reputation for an extraordinary musical vocabulary, able to sight-read Bach as easily as a chart by Count Basie, and found himself in great demand as a sideman.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 16, 2023
The Committee-man hath a sideman, or rather a setter, hight a Sequestrator, of whom you may say, as of the great Sultan's horse, where he treads the grass grows no more.
From Character Writings of the 17th Century by Various
These five musicians are acclaimed bandleaders and sought-after sidemen, sometimes in each other’s ensembles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 25, 2025
She wanted a particular kind of rhythmic drive and often coached her sidemen in real time by stomping her left foot or moving her head.
From New York Times ● Apr. 5, 2023
Indeed, the author rarely interrupts the flow of such rock trivia as recording sessions, touring dates and sidemen.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 13, 2023
At the retrial, Brooklyn prosecutors argued that the conviction was valid and that Scarcella and Chmil were just sidemen in a solid investigation.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 21, 2022
Incumbents, wardens and sidemen were almost always in attendance.
From The Elizabethan Parish in its Ecclesiastical and Financial Aspects by Sedley Lynch Ware
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
