Michael Van Bebber is a Seattle-based trumpeter, singer, keyboardist, composer, educator and researcher who teaches Jazz Band 2 at Roosevelt High School and performs regularly with the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, the Jay Thomas Quintet and the 5th Avenue Theatre pit orchestra.

He has performed with artists spanning multiple genres, from rock legends The Who to jazz masters Branford Marsalis, Lee Konitz and Walt Weiskopf, as well as Johnny Mathis, The Four Tops, John Pizzarelli, the Woody Herman Band, Chuck Mangione, John Fedchock, the Seattle Symphony, Seattle Opera and The 8-Bit Big Band. Van Bebber completed his doctorate in Jazz Studies at the Eastman School of Music, where he was a member of the renowned Eastman Jazz Ensemble. In 2021 he co-founded the Seattle Jazz Camp with jazz legend Jay Thomas.

His transcription book Charlie Parker: 60 Melodies and Solos is endorsed by Ted Nash (Juilliard, Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra), Jim Snidero and Francisco Torres. On his YouTube channel he publishes complete transcriptions and performances of pop and jazz repertoire, work that grew out of the same close-listening practice behind the book.

That listening also led to original research. His paper "Vibrato as Rhythmic Subdivision: Cross-Genre Evidence for Vibrato-Tempo Coupling" proposes that vibrato operates as a form of rhythmic subdivision, with performers shifting subdivision across tempo zones to hold the absolute vibrato rate within a narrow band. The work has been accepted for presentation at the 2026 International Conference on Cognitive and Computational Musicology in Würzburg, Germany. He has also built the Vibrato Trainer, a free web and iOS app that puts the findings into practice for players.

As a composer, Van Bebber has won multiple awards including the MACRO Composition/Theory Award, the CBDNA Wind Ensemble National Composition Competition, the College Music Society's International Composition Competition and the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance Innovation Award. He fronts the psychedelic soul band Future Rainbow Lazer, performing original music throughout Seattle venues, and has released two EPs of his own material.