Michael Melinger has performed with the Austin Jazz Workshop since 1994 and with the High Island Hepcats since 1989. His teaching background includes serving as saxophone instructor for the Austin Community College (2002-2015) and maintaining a home studio for saxophone, flute, and clarinet private lessons (2000-2015). He has provided curriculum design and classroom instruction for grade levels 3-6 in area elementary schools with the Austin Jazz Workshop, and for jazz improvisation and performance technique for middle and high school band students in Oregon and Texas. He has served in numerous organizations, including the Executive Board of the Austin Federation of Musicians - Local 433, the Texas Commission on the Arts State Musician Selection Committee,  the City of Sunset Valley Arts Commission, the Texas Commission on the Arts Music & Opera Panel, the Texas Commission on the Arts Young Masters Evaluation Panel, and as President of the Austin Jazz Workshop.

He received a Master in Jazz Studies/Saxophone Performance Degree from the University of North Texas in 1992. He earned a Bachelor in Music Performance/ Saxophone from the University of Oregon in 1987. Melinger’s discography includes Take to the Sky (2000), Basin Street Stomp (2002), Anything Goes (Fall 2003), Big Boss Tenor (Fall 2005), Mystery Note (September 2009), Epistrophy (April 2017), all with the Austin Jazz Workshop, and Too Hep to Hop (Spring 2003) with the High Island Hepcats.