​Tom Palmer received his Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Delaware and his Master of Music in Jazz Studies from University of the Arts. He studied drumset with Terry Silverlight, Frank Malabe and Kenwood Dennard at the Drummers Collective in New York City. Mr. Palmer teaches in UD’s jazz program as director of Jazz Ensembles I and II and Jazz Chamber Ensembles, as well as drumset and piano. Mr. Palmer is on the faculty of the UD Community Music School (CMS) and is a member of the UD Faculty Jazz Ensemble, which has performed his original composition, One to Go.

Mr. Palmer has performed with many jazz artists including Ernie Watts, Robin Eubanks, Herb Ellis, Donald Byrd and local pianist and composer Don Glanden. He has appeared at the Kennedy Center, Zanzibar Blue in Philadelphia and Wilmington and in various area jazz festivals including Wilmington's Jazz in the Village, the DuPont Clifford Brown Jazz Festival and the Rehoboth Beach Autumn Jazz Festival. Mr. Palmer has also performed on many occasions with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO). His recording credits include the BSO; Royal Palm Steel Band; Paul Scherer; Don Glanden's CD featuring Ernie Watts; Shawn Quaissanee; and Ellen Lebowitz's CDs Invitation to Yesterdays and Smokin’ Aloud.

Mr. Palmer stays busy composing and arranging, as well as performing on drumset and piano with many of the area’s jazz groups. In additional to his own instrumental trio, he leads a quartet with his wife, vocalist Ellen Lebowitz. As a teacher, Mr. Palmer shares his talents with jazz students at many levels. He coordinates the annual UD Jazz Festival, which gives middle- and high school level bands the opportunity to perform in a noncompetitive, adjudicated event, and every summer he directs a weeklong jazz camp for students in grades 8-12 through the CMS. Mr. Palmer is a past president of the International Association for Jazz Education’s Delaware chapter and a current member of the Jazz Education Network (JEN). He is a frequent clinician and adjudicator for area jazz festivals.