Award-Winning Composer Jonathan Wolff on His Jewish Roots, the Greatness of Louisville

If you watched a lot of television in the 1980s, 1990s and/or 2000s, you have heard the work of Jonathan Wolff many times. In fact, the compositions of Wolff continue to play on television and streaming platforms day and night.

While primarily known for composing the theme to “Seinfeld,” that is only one of Jonathan Wolff’s high-profile credits. He wrote over 40 theme songs for television shows and was the credited music composer for 75 primetime network shows. Those extensive credits include “Will & Grace,” “Married With Children,” “Saved By The Bell: The College Years,” “Reba,” “Who’s The Boss?” and “The Hughleys,” and that doesn’t include the thousands of productions he had contributed additional music to.

Doing some mental math, it is not hard to figure out why Jonathan Wolff retired young from composing in 2005. He immediately transitioned into life as a stay-at-home dad and never looked back. But in recent years, Wolff has transitioned into doing guest lectures and concert appearances. Among his credits as a lecturer are major gigs at Harvard Law School, Yale University, Princeton University, New York University and MIT.

I had the pleasure of speaking with Jonathan Wolff – a man who is simultaneously pleasant, candid, energetic and patient – via Zoom on July 3, 2020, as embedded below. Among the topics we discussed whether he has ever encountered Primus’ Les Claypool, who many wrongfully attributed the “Seinfeld” theme to; How the local Jewish community of Louisville helped get him started as a professional musician; How the score to “Will & Grace” became so piano-centric and the story behind “Seinfeld” having an alternate theme song with scat-singing vocals; kudos to Joe Hasan for the research on that one.

More on Jonathan Wolff can be found here, here and here.