Michael Staron was recognized as an innovative college instructor by McGraw-Hill Publishing and was one of eighteen college teachers in the USA invited to attend the 2014 McGraw-Hill Music Appreciation Symposium held in Vail Colorado in March of 2014.
Acknowledged in Jazz Times as “a versatile, forwarding looking and accomplished performer,” Michael began his professional career playing Latin Tropical music in Chicago’s inner city at age fifteen. His jazz bass playing has been reviewed in Cadence, Pulse, Jazz USA, Jazz Review, Jazz Word, Jazz Weekly, AMG, New City, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, The Wire, Jazz at a Glance, Beyond Coltrane, Chicago Reader, All About Jazz, Progression Magazine, and live performances of Michael have been aired on BET, 190 North and local cable.
Michael is also an accomplished theatre / pit musician, his performance credits include - national tours of Evita, the international and national touring companies of A Chorus Line, Sid Caesar, Red Skelton, Bob Newhart, Eddy Arnold, Roger Williams and Joseph with Donny Osmond. In 2018-2019 the experimental jazz group he founded “Four Dimensions Ensemble” received over a million views on Facebook for the original videos they created and Michael went on to be the #1 Jazz Artist in Chicago on Reverbnation for over 48 weeks by November 2020.
Mr. Staron has taught over 180 sections of Music Appreciation at Triton College, DePaul University, Benedictine University, Governors State University, and the Chicago City Colleges. In 2013 Michael co-designed a fully online IAI approved music appreciation course that is currently running at DePaul University, Triton College and Governors State University. He’s been listed as a reviewer in “Discovering Music” Larry Todd, Oxford Press and has conducted beta testing as well as assisted in editing listening outlines for “Music: An Appreciation” Roger Kamien, Brief Edition, McGraw Hill Education.
"He’s a versatile, forward looking and accomplished performer." -- JazzTimes
"…Has exceptional chops and the smarts to get beyond his schooling." -- The Wire
"His bowing is some of the best I ever heard. He is a true rival of Mike Formanek, Dave Holland and Paul Rogers." -- Beyond Coltrane / Fred Barrett
"Mike to me has a lot of technique and he’s perfect for playing in a trio because he’s inspirational, he will follow my chords, whatever melody I play he will follow, he will change key with me which is what I need." - - Hal Russell, Hal an Oral History