Joseph Voelbel

The Amazon Original Television series was based on a memoir entitled, Mozart in the Jungle: Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music by Blair Tindall, an oboist. It is based off his experience playing various high profile gigs in New York City, including for The New York Philharmonic. 

The series itself floats along to a cadence only heard by its maestro, Rodrigo, played by Gael Garcia Bernal. Bernal won the 2016 Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Television Series for the role. The series itself, also won Best Comedy. Bernal defines the special type of comedic tone in the show when he sees an Eagle in the sky while describing how to make maté, casually explains his preference for the ladies room, or perhaps most adeptly when he asks his assistant for a Turkey Sandwich during open auditions.

Mozart in the Jungle was created by Jason Schwartzman, and has a hue of the type of humor displayed in Bored to Death, and Rushmore. Jason explains why he made the show, and how after reading the memoir, he enjoyed how classical music wasn't all "fancy pants", where instead he could experience classical music through the lens of, "all these highly trained people, who are eccentric artists." 

The show is one of the best things Amazon has cranked out since it started to make original content back in 2013. In light of the success of Netflix, Amazon had the bright idea to make a bunch of pilots, and let the viewers influence which shows to green light. Some notably well done work came of this, such as Transparent and later on The Man in the High Castle.  

Good TV is an art, comedy as a function of timing, is perhaps a song. If so welcome, Mozart in the Jungle, cuz you got fun and games.

Joseph Voelbel is an AI Learning Experience Designer, Author, and Philosopher. Titles include, Pay Attention to Bitcoin (2024) a punchy digital primer on sound money, and Nineteen Stories (2017), a literary collection exploring the unknown.