Episode Summary

The creator of Seinfeld’s theme music, Jonathan Wolff was a child prodigy, trained in classical and jazz, working 3 jobs as a musician and composer while still in high school in Louisville, Kentucky, and the guy who composed music for dozens of primetime TV shows for decades. Along the way Jonathan amassed a wealth of stories and insights he shares on this episode of the Sydcast – about each of the Seinfeld characters, about Larry David, and about what a career in entertainment really looks like. 

Syd Finkelstein 

Syd Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He holds a Masters degree from the London School of Economics and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. Professor Finkelstein has published 25 books and 90 articles, including the bestsellers Why Smart Executives Fail and Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent, which LinkedIn Chairman Reid Hoffman calls the “leadership guide for the Networked Age.” He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Management, a consultant and speaker to leading companies around the world, and a top 25 on the global Thinkers 50 list of top management gurus. Professor Finkelstein’s research and consulting work often relies on in-depth and personal interviews with hundreds of people, an experience that led him to create and host his own podcast, The Sydcast, to uncover and share the stories of all sorts of fascinating people in business, sports, entertainment, politics, academia, and everyday life. 

Jonathan Wolff

Acclaimed musician Jonathan Wolff created the music for 75 primetime network series and is best known for his iconic Seinfeld music. Now retired, he thrills concert and lecture audiences with wonderful insider stories and Q/A about his remarkable Hollywood career including yada yada of working with Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David.

While best known for creating the theme and music for 9 seasons of “Seinfeld”, Wolff was also the composer for about 75 other TV series including: “Will & Grace”, “Who’s The Boss?”, “Married…with Children”, “Saved by the Bell – The College Years”, “The Good Life”, and “Reba”, racking up an astounding 44 original themes.

Today, Wolff lectures to music and law students at universities throughout the United States about how his understanding of business strategy and the intricacies of copyright law that shaped his life and colorful career.

Insights from this episode:

• The benefits of working with Larry David on Seinfeld, the outside-the-box thinking that created the iconic theme song, and the fight to get network acceptance.
• The benefits of mentorship and how mentorship from world-class jazz master, Jamey Aebersold, changed his life.  
• How to turn being indispensable into a career.
• The benefits of hard work and putting a business plan in writing.
• How to become a better closer by developing better relationships through empathy.  

Quotes from the show:

• On getting the job on Seinfeld: “My most important asset was relationships.” – Jonathan Wolff
• On the difficulties of getting the show picked up: “Seinfeld was a new species of TV series. It was a show about nothing.” – Jonathan Wolff
• On Julia Louis Dreyfuss: “She is so talented, so smart, so well trained, and just a hard worker that her success has endured...she’s fearless.” – Jonathan Wolff
• Regarding working so much during that time: “So much time and distance has passed since those Camelot years of working on Seinfeld that now I view it from a different perspective. Now, I watch the episodes and I’m a fan of Seinfeld.” – Jonathan Wolff
• On why he loves jazz: “It’s always a moving platform, the landscape changes all the time.” – Jonathan Wolff
• Speaking about Jonathan’s musical training: “You were building this combustion engine, day-after-day, with all kinds of musical influences, not just one influence, but all types of genres.” – Syd Finkelstein
• On beginning his career as a musical handyman: “I did anything people asked me to do, the studios were happy to have acquired another swiss-army, multi-purpose utility tool for their musical chores.” – Jonathan Wolff
• “You’re not afraid to work hard and you’re not afraid to take on whatever job there is to take on.” – Syd Finkelstein
• On being one of the top composers in Los Angeles at the time: “I was not the best composer in LA (Los Angeles), I was probably the best closer.”– Jonathan Wolff
• On what he would say to his twenty year old self: “You need a business plan.” – Jonathan Wolff

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Jonathan Wolff

 Website: Seinfeld Music Guy

Facebook: Jonathan Wolff

Twitter: @seinfeldmusic

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This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com