MICHAEL WILKINSON joined the faculty at USC in August 2017 as Assistant Professor of Trombone, coming to Columbia, SC from Orlando, FL after six years at the University of Central Florida as Assistant Professor of Music, Applied Trombone and Jazz Studies. In Orlando, he performed locally and nationally with the Brass Band of Central Florida, and also with the Orlando Philharmonic Jazz Orchestra, the Orlando Jazz Orchestra, and the UCF Jazz Professors.
Wilkinson moved to Orlando from Arizona, via New York State, where he served as the Visiting Instructor of Trombone at the Crane School of Music in Potsdam, NY (2010-2011). Prior to his first cross-country move, he was a Faculty Associate in Jazz Studies at Arizona State University where he also completed a doctorate in Trombone Performance (2013). He has a Masters degree in Trombone Performance also from Arizona State University (2009), a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from the University of Arizona (1998), and is an alumnus of the Disney/Grammy All-American College Jazz Band (EPCOT Center, summer 1996).
Prior to graduate school, Michael taught middle school band in Tucson, AZ for eight years, building his program into one of the best in the region. While in Tucson, he spend nine years as the musical director, lead trombonist, sound engineer, and auxiliary percussionist for a local salsa band, Descarga. His first solo jazz CD, "Wait for Me!,” was released in 2017 on Random Act Records. He can be heard as a featured jazz soloist on the Brass Band of Central Florida CD release, “15,” and can also be heard on Flying Horse Record’s “En Plein Air” and "Do That Again.”
Michael is an S.E. Shires Trombone Artist and plays Shires tenor and bass trombones. He also performs on alto trombone, F contrabass trombone, and euphonium, and has studied with Tom Ervin, Gail Wilson, Ralph Sauer, and Sam Pilafian.