Thomas Heflin was born in Clarksville, Tennessee, and began playing trumpet when he was eleven years old. During his high school years he was smitten by the allure of jazz, paying careful attention to Louis Armstrong, Clifford Brown, and Maynard Ferguson. After high school, he attended the University of Tennessee at Knoxville studying with former Art Blakey pianist Donald Brown and jazz education guru Jerry Coker. In 2000, Heflin graduated from U.T with degrees in music and broadcasting. By this time his horizons as a trumpet player were expanded to embrace more modern stylists such as Woody Shaw, Nicholas Payton, and Freddie Hubbard. He then pursued graduate studies in music at William Patterson University, and had the great (and well deserved) privilege of being mentored by the late James Williams, head of the jazz department. Upon receiving his master's degree. Heflin took some time away from academia to work in television production, scoring music for programs on CMT. ESPN, and A&E. At present, Mr. Heflin is teaching and working on a doctorate of music at the University of Texas at Austin. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.