Ron Wilkins resides in San Antonio, Texas and is a graduate of Theodore Roosevelt High School.  He attended North Texas State University (now the University of North Texas) from 1976-1982, and later (1992) graduated from The University of Texas at San Antonio. In 1984, Ron enlisted in the United Sates Air Force and was a member of the USAF Band of the West, where he was a featured instrumentalist and vocalist.  In December 2008, he received his Master of Music Performance Degree (Jazz Emphasis) from Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas.

Ron’s diversified career has led to performances with the San Antonio Symphony and Festival Orchestra, the Austin Symphony, the Austin Pops Orchestra, the Mid-Texas Symphony, the Victoria Texas Symphony, the Temple (TX) Symphony Orchestra, and the Flint (MI) Symphony Orchestra, where he was twice a guest artist for their summer pops concert series.  Ron currently plays tuba and bass trombone with the Capitol of Texas Brass Quintet and the Riverbend Brass.  His Broadway show credits include “West Side Story,” “Showboat,” “The Producers,” “The Lion King,” “Wicked,” and many others.

Ron has performed with Jerry Lewis, Bob Hope, Lena Horne, Ray Charles, Rosemary Clooney, “Dizzy” Gillespie, Aretha Franklin, and other well-known entertainers.  As a noted jazz musician, Ron performs with his group (the Ron Wilkins 4-Tet) in the San Antonio/Austin area. In 2004, Ron’s group was named the San Antonio Current Magazine’s Best Jazz Band, and in March 2008, the 4-Tet toured Russia for two weeks with Russian classical and jazz virtuoso pianist, Valeri Grokovski.  In May 2002, Ron was a featured artist for the International Trombone Association Festival, held at the University of North Texas in Denton, TX.

As an educator, Ron cultivates a studio that produces many Texas All-State Band and Orchestra performers.  He teaches trombone and low brass methods, jazz improvisation/history, and jazz literature/styles. In 2005, Ron became trombone and jazz studies instructor at the University of Texas at San Antonio. He has performed at numerous jazz festivals, including the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, the Wichita Jazz Festival, and the Mile High Jazz Festival in Denver, CO. In 2001, Ron was Artist in Residence at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

Ron is an Edwards Trombone artist and clinician.  He released his first cd (“Tribute to the Masters”) in 2000, has a second cd with former Ringling Brothers Circus trombonist, Bill Gibson (“The Bundee Brothers Bone Band”-2005,) and is finishing his third cd, “The Sleeper has Awakened.”