Neil Slater, One O'Clock Lab Band, conducting (retired August 2008)

Neil Slater has retired at the end of the 2007-8 academic year.
He can still be reached via his UNT email address.
Neil Slater is a Professor in the Jazz Studies Division of the College of Music at the University of North Texas. He is the Chairman of the Jazz Studies Division and the Director of Lab Bands. Mr. Slater directs The One O'Clock Lab Band, which has performed and recorded all over the world. He teaches Conducting College Jazz Ensembles, coordinates the Jazz Lecture Series, and teaches advanced arranging students. He is the advisor for all graduate jazz recitals.

About Neil Slater
Award-winning composer and arranger Neil Slater is chair of the division of jazz studies at the University of North Texas (UNT) in Denton, Texas. Mr. Slater is also the director of the internationally acclaimed UNT One O'Clock Lab Band. A 1995 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship Grant recipient, Slater was selected as a Grammy Award nominee by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences in 1993. In addition to creating more than 60 compositions for jazz ensembles, Slater has written for symphony, mixed chamber groups, a cappella chorus and theater.

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers has bestowed its "Standard Award" upon Slater each year since 1987. A noted jazz educator, Slater has shared his expertise in clinics with students in Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, Canada, Mexico and at universities from Rhode Island to California. A former clinician and substitute pianist for the late jazz immortal Stan Kenton, Slater was a member of the Stan Kenton Orchestra-In-Residence program. He has conducted All-State jazz ensembles in more than a dozen states.

At UNT, Slater was principal advocate in the establishment of a master of music degree in jazz studies. More than 400 students are enrolled in the UNT jazz program, which, in 1947, was first in the United States to offer a bachelor's degree in jazz. Prior to his association at UNT, Slater founded the jazz studies program and established master's and bachelor's degree programs in jazz at the University of Bridgeport, Conn. A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Slater received his Bachelor of Science in Music Education from Mansfield University, his Master of Music in Composition from Duquesne University and pursued additional study at Columbia University.
E-mail: Neil.Slater@unt.edu

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