Chris Collins is a professional jazz woodwind player who has toured throughout Japan, South Africa, Europe, China, and North America as the leader of his own ensembles and as a featured soloist. Collins has performed his original works in 7 countries on 4 continents.

He has played professionally with artists including the Phil Collins Big Band, Doc Severinsen, Mel Torme, Michael Feinstein, Lou Rawls and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. He has performed at jazz festivals including: Cork, Ireland, Montreux-Switzerland, Pori, Nice, North Sea, MiTo Italy, Detroit, and Glasgow Scotland.

His most recent CD release "Electo-Monk, Acoustic-Funk", fuses techno and acoustic jazz with stunning originality. His successful “Jazz from the Shamrock Shore” (Harriett Jazz/ASCAP) features extended compositions which artistically combine the instrumentation, musical vocabulary and repertoire of the Irish folk tradition with American Jazz.

He has recorded on commercial recordings and film soundtracks, including the soundtrack for the award winning Paramount Pictures release "The Big Night", and Television series including Leverage and the Librarian.

Collins's jazz solo work can be heard on the CD releases "A Hot Night In Paris" The Phil Collins Big Band (Atlantic), "Twilight: Collins Quartet with vocalist Harvey Thompson", "Urban Solitude"(Harriett Jazz), “A Time To Mourn, A Time To Dance” (Harriett Jazz/ ASCAP), and "Watching For Watchung Plaza – The John Cooper Quintet.”

Collins is Professor and Director of Jazz Studies at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan (Beginning his 18th year). Embracing the Urban mission of Wayne State while seeking to blend the street-school with the discipline of academia, Collins has initiated numerous new programs including an aggressive guest artist series, JazzWeek@Wayne, The Detroit Torino Urban Jazz Project, and significant collaboration and fund-raising initiatives that have successfully enhanced the university, the region, and the global music scene. He has presented numerous workshops and residencies around the world including presentations at Ishimori's in Tokyo Japan, The Rampone Saxophone Museum in Quarna, Italy, The South African Jazz Educators Conference in Durbin, Capetown, and Grahamstown, South Africa, The University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland, and at numerous national conferences on topics including jazz saxophone/improvisation, Jazz composition/arranging and distance jazz education. He has also contributed to scholarly books and several articles to Jazz Journals including cover stories on Joe Lovano, Chick Corea, David Liebman, Jazz and Technology, and Joe Zawinul.