Music on the Brain: From Tension to Groove

Music on the Brain

Stress is part of life, but how we respond makes all the difference. In both neuroscience and jazz, resilience is essential. Musicians learn to turn tension into rhythm, uncertainty into creativity, and challenge into flow. Similarly, the brain adapts to stress in ways that help us navigate daily life and build resilience.

Pianist and composer Kelly Green joins Zuckerman Institute neuroscientist Dr. Anna Zhukovskaya for an evening of jazz and conversation exploring how both the brain and musicians transform stress into resilience and groove. Experience live music, engage in discussion, and discover the fascinating connections between the art of improvisation and the science of stress.

Music on the Brain is a collaboration between the National Jazz Museum in Harlem and Columbia University’s Zuckerman Institute.

Anna Zhukovskaya is a neuroscientist and postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University’s Zuckerman Institute in the Abdus-Saboor Lab. She earned her PhD in Neuroscience from the Princeton Neuroscience Institute in 2024. Her research focuses on how touch and other forms of somatosensation shape social behavior, stress responses, and social decision-making.

“Kelly Green does something few artists can — she redraws the contours of jazz itself.” (Paris-Move)

Gather ’round, let me tell you a secret: Steinway Artist Kelly Green transforms emotional experiences into whimsical jazz worlds. She plays and sings with the mysterious knowingness of someone who has felt deeply and returned wiser, now offering musical gifts wrapped in rhythm and rhyme.

A pianist, vocalist, composer, and bandleader, Green leads her ensemble through theatrically intricate, lyric-driven ballads, high-energy swing, and heroic instrumental compositions. Her sets weave original works with reimagined pieces by Mulgrew Miller, Duke Ellington, Blossom Dearie, and more — bridging eras with a distinctive touch.

Critics call her “one of the most gifted vocalists working today” (Paris-Move) and “one of the most quietly revolutionary vocalists of her generation” (Thierry De Clemensat). Jazz legend Christian McBride describes her as “one of the most talented and spirited people I know.” In 2025, her magnetic performances and undoubtedly-cool band chemistry earned her a Jazz Roads Touring Grant.

Green has performed and recorded with Christian McBride, Rich Perry, Steve Wilson, Scott Robinson, George Coleman, and Billy Hart, and has sold out venues including The Kennedy Center, Birdland, and the DC Jazz Festival. Her fifth album, — a surrealist, storybook journey through love, grief, and imagination — was released in August 2025 and won her two Global Music Awards for Best Jazz Album and Emerging Artist.

Even in the largest halls, Kelly Green plays as if you’re the only one in the room.

www.kellygreenpiano.com

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Host or Publisher Columbia University's Zuckerman Institute