page_title: Neil Slater
section_title: Teaching and composing
hierarchical_section_title: Neil Slater / Career / Teaching and composing
caption_attribution_description: English: Neil Slater at the University of Bridgeport, 1980
context_page_description: Kenneth Neil Slater is an American educator, composer, and pianist. In 2008, he retired as professor emeritus. He has composed over 80 works for jazz ensemble and has written for symphony, chamber groups, a cappella choir, opera, and musical theatre.
context_section_description: Slater's first teaching job, from 1956 to about 1960, was with the Mount Vernon City Schools, where he traveled to a different school each day of the week, covering five schools, to introduce elementary school students to their first instruments. Jazz drummer Alvin Queen, when he was in elementary school, started studying drums with Slater, who, at the time, taught all the band instruments. In 1965 he co-founded the Westchester Stage Band Clinics.
  In 1968, he became Director of Bands at Mamaroneck High School.  Two years later he joined the music faculty at the University of Bridgeport. In 1970, he was appointed Slater as Assistant Professor of Music with the Jazz and Composition Faculty, Department of Music, College of Education. Bridgeport's expansion in jazz was influenced in part by a new emphasis placed on jazz curriculum at the National Association for Music Education conference that was held March 1970 in Chicago. Slater founded the jazz program in 1971 at the University of Bridgeport. For 11 years, Slater directed the University of Bridgeport Jazz Ensemble. He also served as coordinator of UB's Jazz Studio Program. He hired Bill Finegan to teach composing and arranging and Finnegan's wife Rosemary to teach singing. Slater also hired Sal Salvador,  Art Davis, Randy Jones. The UB Jazz Ensemble performed with Bill Watrous, Gerry Mulligan, and Chet Baker.
  Slater became Director of Jazz Studies, and in 1976 the school established a bachelor's degree in jazz studies.  By 1981, his compositions had been performed by Stan Kenton, Slide Hampton, Clark Terry, Sal Salvador, Joe Morello, and Bobby Shew. The press credited Slater as having performed with Frank Strozier, Louis Hayes, Don Elliott, Jimmy Heath, Frank Foster, Danny Stiles, Art Davis, Bill Watrous, Joe Morello, and Sal Salvador. Slater had been under contract with MCA and Warner Bros. as a composer, arranger and consultant.
  He frequently performed as a featured guest piano soloist with other college jazz ensembles.  In one instance, Slater was a guest pianist at the Memphis State University Jazz Week '77.
caption: Neil Slater (1980)
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