In addition to teaching the trumpet studio, Dr. Gaines directs jazz ensembles, teaches jazz history courses and works with music technology. Dr. Gaines has performed as a soloist in his native Kentucky, as well as throughout Indiana, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria, and at the Montreux and North Sea Jazz Festivals. In the Green Bay area he can frequently be heard performing with Gypsy Trip, a Django Reinhardt-inspired jazz combo made up of UWGB faculty and friends, and with Brass Differential, a New Orleans-style funk band. He holds degrees from the University of Louisville (Bachelor of Music, 1999) and Ball State University (Master of Music, 2001 and Doctor of Arts, 2005). Dr. Gaines frequently travels to Slovakia and the Czech Republic to perform in jazz and classical idioms and to spend time with his wife Ladislava’s family.