Michael Hackett is a performer, teacher, and adjudicator with a wide variety of credits. As a performer, Dr. Hackett has performed in some of the most important musical venues in the world, ranging from Lincoln Center, Birdland, and The Apollo Theater in New York City, to the Kennedy Center and Blues Alley in Washington, DC. His playing is featured in numerous commercially available recordings with large ensembles such as The Scott Whitfield Jazz Orchestra and the Buselli/Wallarab Jazz Orchestra and many television and radio comercials.

Dr. Hackett's first solo recording, "Circles," was released on Summit Records in 2005, and his second, "New Point of View," was released on Summit in 2013. Both were well received in reviews published in All About Jazz and Jazz Review and each spent several weeks in the Jazz Week charts representing extensive airplay on jazz radio. A third recording, titled "Western Skies" fronting a sextet co-led with Chicago trombonist Tim Coffman, is expected to be released in Spring-Summer of 2022. Hackett recieved his Doctorate of Music from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Brass Pedagogy and earned an MM and BM in Jazz Studies from the same. His principal teachers include William Adam, John Rommel, and Joey Tartell in trumpet, and David Baker and Patrick Harbison in jazz. He has previously served on the faculties of Butler University, The Ohio State University, Indiana State University, and most recently was Assistant Professor of Trumpet and Jazz at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Michael Hackett is an endorsing artist for Powell Trumpets and performs exclusively on a hand crafted custom instrument made by Fred Powell.