Biography
Jackson Greenberg first attracted broad notice through the signature theme he crafted for the series Explained. Beyond his screen work, he has composed orchestral and chamber pieces that stand apart from any film or television assignment.
Born in Philadelphia in 1990, he spent his early years in the Center City district and the nearby suburb of Gladwyne. From childhood he displayed strong musical gifts, held Bruce Springsteen in particular esteem, and appeared as a featured soloist with the city’s youth jazz ensembles. Although he initially intended to audition for university jazz-performance programs, a drama instructor recognized his compositional instincts and commissioned him to score two stage productions. The experience proved decisive, prompting him to change direction toward composition.
As an undergraduate at Princeton University he studied with Steve Mackey and Paul Lansky and spent a term abroad at the Royal College of Music in London. After graduation he relocated to Los Angeles to concentrate on film scoring and entered the Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television program—now called the Screen Scoring program—at the Thornton School of Music, University of Southern California. There he was paired with mentor Randy Newman. In 2017 he continued his training with Thomas Newman during a fellowship at the Sundance Institute for Film Composition.
His first screen credit came with the 2015 documentary Cartel Land, an Academy Award nominee whose score later received a Cinema Eye Awards nomination for Best Music for a Feature-Length Documentary; the music was also released commercially as an album. Those successes led to further commissions, among them scores for multiple network series and the theme for Explained. In 2022 Greenberg received a Hollywood Music in Media Award for Best Score for a Short Documentary for his work on Audible. He also composed the music for Maybe Next Year, a documentary chronicling the Philadelphia Eagles’ championship season.
Independently of film projects, Greenberg continues to write for orchestra and chamber ensembles; his pieces have been performed by the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra and other groups. In 2023 he released the album The Things We Pass on Through Our Genes on the CMNTX label.
Born in Philadelphia in 1990, he spent his early years in the Center City district and the nearby suburb of Gladwyne. From childhood he displayed strong musical gifts, held Bruce Springsteen in particular esteem, and appeared as a featured soloist with the city’s youth jazz ensembles. Although he initially intended to audition for university jazz-performance programs, a drama instructor recognized his compositional instincts and commissioned him to score two stage productions. The experience proved decisive, prompting him to change direction toward composition.
As an undergraduate at Princeton University he studied with Steve Mackey and Paul Lansky and spent a term abroad at the Royal College of Music in London. After graduation he relocated to Los Angeles to concentrate on film scoring and entered the Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television program—now called the Screen Scoring program—at the Thornton School of Music, University of Southern California. There he was paired with mentor Randy Newman. In 2017 he continued his training with Thomas Newman during a fellowship at the Sundance Institute for Film Composition.
His first screen credit came with the 2015 documentary Cartel Land, an Academy Award nominee whose score later received a Cinema Eye Awards nomination for Best Music for a Feature-Length Documentary; the music was also released commercially as an album. Those successes led to further commissions, among them scores for multiple network series and the theme for Explained. In 2022 Greenberg received a Hollywood Music in Media Award for Best Score for a Short Documentary for his work on Audible. He also composed the music for Maybe Next Year, a documentary chronicling the Philadelphia Eagles’ championship season.
Independently of film projects, Greenberg continues to write for orchestra and chamber ensembles; his pieces have been performed by the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra and other groups. In 2023 he released the album The Things We Pass on Through Our Genes on the CMNTX label.
Albums
Madu (Original Soundtrack)
2024
First Light
2020
City of Ghosts (Original Motion Picture Sountrack)
2017
Cartel Land (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
2015
Singles
