Hi, and welcome to my website! I am an Associate Professor of Composition (Emerging Media and Digital Arts) at the Glenn Korff School of Music at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I am the Steinhart Foundation Distinguished Professor of Music; I am also the Director of Jazz Studies, and Music Director and Composer in Residence for the UNL Faculty Jazz Ensemble. My work at UNL is focused on the Composition Department, the Digital Arts Initiative, and the Jazz Studies Program.

I also own my own production company, Tom Larson Music, Inc. With this and my former business, Studio Q Recording, I have produced music for TV and radio advertising, industrial videos, and documentary films. Among my credits are the scores for three docs for the PBS American Experience series (a production of WBGH-TV, Boston): In the White Man's Image, Around the World in 72 Days, and Monkey Trial (which won a 2002 Peabody Award). I have also scored Willa Cather: The Road is All for WNET-TV (New York), Ashes from the Dust for NOVA, and the PBS specials Standing Bear's Footprint, Most Honorable Son, and In Search of the Oregon Trail. Two of my most recent films were Ocean of Grass, The Healing of Harman, which won Best Short Film at the Anaheim International Film Festival in 2019, and The Art of Dissent, which won Best Feature Documentary at the 2020 Big Apple Film Festival Award for Best Documentary.

As a jazz composer, I have released three albums with small groups, two solo piano albums, and an album of improvised music. I have also had my original jazz compositions performed in Copenhagen, Paris, the Montreux Jazz Festival, and in Japan with the Tokyo Brass Art Orchestra.

As a recording engineer, I've worked as a tracking, mixing, and/or mastering engineer for artists such as Paul Barnes, Jackie Allen, François Rabbath, The Nebraska Jazz Orchestra, The Concordia String Trio, Brad Colerick, and others.

As a jazz pianist, I have performed with Dave Stryker, John Ellis, Victor Lewis, Jerry Bergonzi, Paul Shaffer, Chris Potter, Chris Vadala, Loren Stillman, Bobby Shew, Claude Williams, Bo Diddley, and The Omaha Symphony.

In 2014 I was awarded the Lincoln Mayor’s Arts Award in Artistic Achievement - Performing Arts. In 2017 I was a featured artist at the Meadowlark Music Festival, where I premiered my multi-movement work Our Fathers.

I've also written six textbooks, The History and Tradition of Jazz (7th ed.), Modern Sounds: The Artistry of Contemporary Jazz (2nd ed.), The History of Rock and Roll (7th ed.), Film Scoring in the Digital Age, Sound Recording in the 21st Century, and History and Tradition of Country Music, all published by Kendall/Hunt Publishing (Dubuque, IA).

As an avid runner, I have run multiple full and half marathons, including the Boston Marathon in 2005, 2006, and 2007.