Todd Wilkinson                                                      

Saxophonist, Music Educator

 

Todd is the Director of Jazz Studies and Instructor of Saxophone at Ottawa University in Ottawa, Kansas. He endorses Eastman 52nd Street Saxophones, and is currently performing every Friday at the Green Lady Lounge in Kansas City, MO, with the Tim Whitmer Quartet, as well as once a month at BB’s Lawnside Barbeque with Michael Smith and the Sax Pistols.

​

Dr. Wilkinson holds a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance from Arizona State University, a Master of Arts in Music Theory and Composition from Stephen F. Austin State University, and a Doctor of Arts in Saxophone Performance from the University of Kansas.  His past tenure includes a board membership with the Topeka Jazz Workshop, the Artistic Director for the Coleman Hawkins Legacy Jazz Festival, the Director of Jazz Studies and Instructor of Saxophone at Washburn University, the President of the Kansas City Jazz Ambassadors, and owner/operator of the Drum Room Jazz Club. 

​

Todd has conducted Honors Jazz Bands throughout the Midwest and has worked as a clinician/adjudicator in Washington State, Kansas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Texas, Colorado, and Missouri.  Todd has led two successful bands, Bokomaru and the Goombahles, and he spent five years performing nightly with the legendary K.C. Bottoms band at the Tuba in Kansas City. Todd has appeared as a sideman with scores of major performers, most notably Mel Torme, Joe Williams, Patti Page, Kevin Mahogany, the Kansas City Chiefs T.D. Pack Band, the Topeka Symphony, the Temptations, Diane Schurr, Karrin Allyson, Natalie Cole, the Royal Crown Revue, Debbie Boone, Mark Pender, Najee, Michael Feinstein, Bob James, Kelley Hunt, and Wayne Newton.

​

Todd’s publications include: 

• The Kansas City Jazz and Blues Nightlife Survival Kit -1992, Premier Quatour, Op. 53 Jean-Baptiste Singeleé (1812-1875) an Analytical Overview of the First S.A.T.B. Saxophone Quartet – 2004

• William P. Latham’s Sisyphus 1971: An Analysis Using Common Tone Networks – 2005

• Frank Trumbauer’s Saxophone Studies and Modern Solos for Saxophone: Compositions by the Hot Jazz Virtuoso and Their Place within the American Saxophone Tradition - 2006. 

​​

He is currently working on an outline of Practical Assessments for Young Musicians. 

​

Contact Information:

Dr. Todd R. Wilkinson

Director of Jazz Studies and Instructor of Saxophone

Ottawa University

1001 Cedar, Box 8, 206 Atkinson Hall

Ottawa KS 66067

Cell: 816-797-3264