Press

April 17, 2025

Welcome Tim Green, the Newest Vail Jazz Workshop Instructor

Dick Oatts Passes the Torch to 1998 Workshop Alum 

Tim Green may be new to our Workshop teaching team, but he is no stranger to Vail Jazz: he attended the second-ever Workshop in 1998 and returned in 2004 to participate in the Alumni Sextet at the Vail Jazz Festival.

Tim, a Grammy-nominated saxophonist, composer, arranger, and educator accepts the mantle as sax instructor from Dick Oatts, who recently announced his retirement from teaching. “Dick was a beloved Workshop instructor for eight years, and will certainly be missed,” says Vail Jazz Executive Director Anneliese Swift. “We’re fortunate that we have found such a talented saxophonist to step into the role of mentoring tomorrow’s sax stars.”

Please help us extend a very warm welcome when he arrives in Vail this summer to take his place at the 30th Annual Vail Jazz Workshop! The Workshop will get underway on August 23, 2025.  The Vail Jazz Festival ty will take place August 29-31st.

Read more on Tim Green’s impressive background below.

Meet Tim Green

Tim Green is a Grammy-nominated saxophonist, composer, arranger, and educator. Whether leading his own dynamic bands, supplying the soul for ensembles across the musical spectrum, embodying the spirit of modern jazz and spiritual sounds, or inspiring the next generation of musicians, Tim Green is a wide-ranging artist of deep passion and unflagging individuality.

“Tim Green is a dynamic musician,” says Christian McBride, the multiple Grammy Award-winning bassist. “If you make a checklist of everything you’d want in a musician, Tim has it all.”

McBride’s praise rings true given the diverse range of opportunities into which Green’s saxophone artistry has been invited. He has performed and recorded with some of the most recognized names in jazz, gospel, R&B, hip-hop and pop music, including McBride, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Jon Faddis, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Queen Latifah, Mary J. Blige, Toni Braxton, Mariah Carey, Earth Wind and Fire, Aretha Franklin, Jill Scott, Jennifer Hudson, The Cookers, Common, Ravi Coltrane, Eddie Palmeri, Fantasia, Carl Allen, Rodney Whitaker, Mo’ Horns, Joe Chambers, Kirk Franklin, Donnie McClurkin, and Yolanda Adams.

Green has become a saxophonist of choice for many of jazz’s most revered pianists; he has been featured on stage and recordings with such keyboard masters as his mentor Mulgrew Miller, Eric Reed, Patrice Rushen, Larry Willis, Orrin Evans, Allyn Johnson, and Alex Brown, and as part of Cyrus Chestnut’s band Affirmation.

Based in his native Baltimore, Maryland, Green has garnered international acclaim while establishing himself as a pillar of his hometown scene. In 2018 he joined the faculty of the Peabody Conservatory, where he plays a vital role in the innovative Jazz Studies program led by world-renowned trumpeter and educator Sean Jones. Green received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music and earned his Master’s in Jazz Studies from the University of Southern California’s Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz.

Green continues to hone his distinctive, soulful sound on stages across the globe and at the helm of his own ensembles, which feature some of the most vital musicians in contemporary jazz. He has taken the stage of the Hollywood Bowl with Christian McBride’s Big Band, adding that world-famous site to a list of prestigious venues that includes the Village Vanguard, Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall, Disney Hall, and even the White House. Green has toured stadiums and arenas around the world for nearly a decade with the superstar vocalist Michael Bublé, showcasing his ability to maintain his musical personality in the pop realm. He has also enjoyed a 20-year collaboration with Darin Atwater’s Soulful Symphony, including a residency with the Philadelphia Orchestra.

He has also been enlisted by such notable music directors as Adam Blackstone, Alan Chang, and Rickey Minor to join their elite ensembles. With American Idol’s Rickey Minor, he appeared at Radio City Music Hall to celebrate iconic record producer and label head Clive Davis. Green has also performed at the BET Honors, VH1 Hip Hop Honors, BET White House Obama Farewell Special, the Tonight Show featuring Jimmy Fallon, the Michael Bublé Christmas Special, and BET’s Sunday Best.