Today we’d like to introduce you to Mike Sailors.
Hi Mike, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’m originally from Charleston, South Carolina, but I grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina, in a household where music was always present. My dad played Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, Earth, Wind & Fire, Steely Dan, artists whose sound worlds were full of horns, groove, and the DNA of jazz. Without realizing it at the time, I was being conditioned to love great music.
I started playing the trumpet in 7th grade, and it felt natural to me right away. I was blessed with teachers who recognized my potential, encouraged me to practice, and created meaningful opportunities for me to grow. As soon as I could play well enough, my band director began taking me to the high school during lunch so I could sit in with the jazz band. From the moment I heard and felt that ensemble around me, I knew I wanted to be a professional musician.
I studied at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where I became serious about both trumpet performance and the craft of composing and arranging, including big band writing, small group writing, and eventually strings. After graduating, I earned my master’s degree at Michigan State University and later moved to Austin to pursue a doctorate in composition. Soon after finishing, I took a leap and relocated to New York City.
That move changed everything. In Austin around 2010, I was making a comfortable living playing gigs such as cover bands and jazz at the Elephant Room, and life felt easy. But I also knew I wanted to do more. Around that time, I started dating someone who told me she was moving to New York in a year. As the relationship grew serious, I realized I needed to either take the plunge or risk letting both the relationship and my career plateau. I chose the plunge. It was the best decision I have ever made. I ended up marrying that woman, and New York opened doors I never dreamed were possible.
In NYC, I found myself surrounded by musicians who pushed me, inspired me, and challenged me to level up my skills. My first big break came when I became the music director for Sleep No More, an off-Broadway show that ran for more than a decade. That role gave me a doorway into the Broadway world and, importantly, the chance to hire musicians I admired and respected, players who might not have called me otherwise. Getting to play with and learn from musicians I had looked up to for years accelerated my development in a profound way.
From there, things kept unfolding. I joined The Hot Sardines and spent three years touring internationally in Europe, Japan, and beyond. In my final five years in New York, I performed in several Broadway pits such as Be More Chill, The Prom, and Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, and I worked with ensembles and artists I deeply admire, including Orrin Evans and the Captain Black Big Band, the Mingus Orchestra, the New York Jazz Composers Mosaic Orchestra, Bobby Sanabria’s Multiverse Orchestra, The Fat Cat Big Band, The Williamsburg Salsa Orchestra, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Cynthia Sayer, and many more.
As a composer and arranger, I have written for Mack Avenue Records, Decca Records, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Columbus Jazz Orchestra, Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, and a number of world-class artists such as Ryan Kisor, Sean Jones, Rodney Whitaker, Pete Bernstein, and Jimmy Cobb. I also contributed arrangements for Lady Gaga’s Jazz & Piano Engagement residency at Park MGM in Las Vegas.
In short, I got to live out my dream of being a full-time musician in New York City. I loved every second.
In 2019, I was offered a teaching position at the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin. My wife and I were beginning to think about starting a family, and the opportunity felt like the right next chapter both professionally and personally. I am now in my sixth year as an Assistant Professor of Practice. I still perform locally and nationally, continue composing and arranging, work as a copyist and engraver for the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and currently serve as music director and arranger for the internationally acclaimed vocalist Aubrey Logan.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
An artist’s life is full of both challenges and obstacles, but one of my greatest strengths as a young person was that I never questioned whether a career in music would work out. I had a kind of blind faith that if I practiced relentlessly, stayed prepared, and put myself in situations where opportunities could arise, I would eventually be able to take advantage of them.
With that said, I faced a major setback in my twenties when I developed a serious embouchure issue. A trumpet embouchure is the way a trumpet player uses their mouth, lips, facial muscles, and air to create sound, and mine became damaged after a stint working on a cruise ship shortly after I finished my undergraduate degree. It affected my playing in a very real way, and it took over ten years to fully overcome it and reach a point where playing was no longer painful or unpredictable. It was a long period of frustration, rebuilding, and constant adjustment, and it taught me patience and resilience in ways nothing else could have.
Today, the challenge looks different. I have two daughters whom I adore, a full-time teaching appointment at UT, ongoing composing commitments with several artists, and my own performance career to maintain. The hardest part now is finding the time and mental space to create new music simply for the sake of curiosity and exploration. Balancing family, teaching, and creativity is its own kind of obstacle, and it is one I am grateful to navigate.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My work is divided among four main areas: teaching, performing, and composing and arranging.
Teaching at UT has become one of the most rewarding parts of my career. My primary role is to teach lessons to the members of the jazz trumpet studio, and I genuinely enjoy working with these students. There is a real sense of purpose in passing along the wisdom my mentors gave me. I also teach a Jazz Appreciation course that enrolls more than 700 non-music majors each semester, along with a Studio Composition class for our jazz majors.
I still perform between 50 and 75 engagements a year, both locally and nationally. In Austin, I appear regularly at Monks Jazz Club and Parker Jazz Club, and I often work as a hired gun for touring artists such as Andrea Bocelli, The Who, and Adrian Quesada.
My work as an arranger is something I take great pride in. I am fortunate to write for Aubrey Logan in a wide variety of settings, from nine piece jazz ensembles to full symphony orchestras with more than ninety musicians. Most recently, the Detroit Symphony and the Seattle Symphony performed my arrangements for her. Aubrey also began a residency at Parker Jazz Club that routinely sells out, and it has been an absolute joy to create new music for those shows.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
One surprising thing about me is that I am a 5 handicap golfer.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mikesailors.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealmikesailors
