Mike Parkinson is a Kansas City based KHS America Education Artist, XO Trumpet Artist, and Kansas Touring Artist. He is director of the TRINITY Jazz Ensemble, JAZZ Spoken Here and coordinates the Kansas City Jazz Ambassadors-Jamey Aebersold Clinic/Concert Series. He is the author of BASIE, BEBOP, BALLADS & BLUES, a jazz ensemble repertoire guide, BEYOND THE BLUES, a score-part editing guide, and The ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSET FOR MUSICIANS, a Guide to Personal & Professional Development.

Mike has been a guest artist at schools, conferences and festivals across the US, Poland, and China. For his service as Director of the International Summer Jazz Academy, he was named Amicus Poloniae by the Republic of Poland. He served as Director of the MTSU School of Music and Director of Jazz Studies at the UMKC Conservatory of Music. Mike has performed with artists including Bob Brookmeyer, Gary Foster, Bobby Watson, Joachim Mencel, Janusz Muniak and Dominik Wania, and recorded with harpist Michelle Himmell, the Kansas City Spirit Orchestra, St. Thomas Quartet, and Kirby Shaw. He holds degrees from Cincinnati, Kent State, and North Texas; primary teachers include Frank Brown, Bill Scarlett, Scott Huston, Marie Speziale, Harry Herforth, Kelly Hale and Leopold Sipe. Mike is a member of the Jazz Education Network, the International Relations Council, Saint Louis Polonia, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Pi Kappa Lambda, the United Methodist Church, and is a Sigma Alpha Iota Friend of the Arts.