Tommy Poole is director of Jazz Studies and assistant professor of music at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Okla. He is an active saxophonist and woodwind doubler in a variety of genres. He has performed or recorded with such luminaries as Rosemary Clooney, Jack Jones, Eartha Kitt, Anthony Newley, Marilyn McCoo, Red Buttons, Maynard Ferguson, The Woody Herman Orchestra under the direction of Frank Tiberi, Vikki Carr, Diane Schuur, Maureen McGovern, Nell Carter, Boots Randolph, Joe Williams, Mercer Ellington, and Dianne Reeves. Poole can be heard playing saxophones on Spoon's critically acclaimed CD, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga(2007).
Poole has composed and arranged works for a variety of settings from commercial showbands, to jazz big bands, to full-sized studio orchestras. His orchestrations have been featured on at least five commercially available CDs.
As an educator, Poole has served as guest clinician for various regional jazz festivals and has recently been named the 2009-2010 Oklahoma Collegiate Jazz Educator of the Year by the Oklahoma Jazz Educators Association. His research on metric modulations in jazz has been published in Jazz Inside Magazine. He is a member of the Jazz Education Network, College Music Society, and Oklahoma Jazz Educators Association.
He received his BM and DMA from The University of Texas at Austin and his MM from The University of Miami.