Saxophonist, Flutist and composer Steve Slagle makes his home in New York City. He has released twenty albums as a leader, and performed on countless others. His many original compositions are published by Slagle Music, BMI worldwide. Slagle was musical director of the Mingus Big Band for many years, and wrote many of the band’s arrangements, as well as playing and arranging with Joe Lovano’s Nonet. He has received two Grammy Awards for recordings with each of those groups, and continues his association with them. As a leader, Slagle reflects new sounds/arrangements and compositions with his original voice and truly unique bands. Steve Slagle attended Berklee College of Music in Boston on a DownBeat Magazine scholarship at age 18 and subsequently received his Masters in Music at Manhattan School of Music in NYC. Hehasplayed with Stevie Wonder, Machito’s Afro-Cuban Orchestra, Steve Kuhn, Lionel Hampton, Jack McDuff, Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra , Brazil’s Milton Nascimento and band(“Rio Highlife” on Atlantic Records), Carla Bley Orchestra, Ray Barretto, Beastie Boys, as well as Mingus Big Band, Joe Lovano Nonet, and many others.
In March 2020, during the onset of the lockdown, Slagle, drummer Jason Tiemann and bassist Marty Kenney recorded the musically-pure album, “Alive In Harlem” (no overdubs and minimal editing) to celebrate the 100th Centennial of Charlie Parker (the album opens with “Dewey Square”). The album received airplay worldwide and was a precursor to the April, 2021 release of Slagle’s monumental recording, “Nascentia” (Panorama 1010), featuring a suite for three horns and music that reflects the positivity of a new-birth, in these historic times. In February, 2022, “Into The Heart Of It”(with special guest Randy Brecker), Slagle’s first ever album of ballads, was be released.
Slagle’s 2018 recording, “Spirit Calls,” features his flute artistry, along with special guest John Scofield on guitar. Slagle’s recordings, “Alto Manhattan” ( 2016), and “Dedication” ( 2017), also on Panorama Records, reached the top ten in jazz radio play nationwide. Slagle is also co-leader of the Stryker/Slagle Band and their last release in 2015, “Routes” (which features an expanded band line-up with four horn arrangements), was nominated for a Grammy Award, and Slagle’s 2013 recording, “Evensong,” was chosen as one of the top recordings of 2013 by JazzTimes Magazine.
"Scenes, Songs and Solo's" (Schaffner Press, 2012) is Slagle’s first book on composition, offering direction for young players, as well as containing many of his compositions and ideas on music. Steve Slagle is a long time endorser of Paris’s Vandoren (Dansr) Reeds. He also endorses both alto & soprano saxophones from Yanagisawa, Japan,as well as his trusty Mark VI Tenor and Alto and Haynes Flute.
Slagle’s extensive discography is listed in full at: www.Steveslaglemusic.com. His arrangements for Mingus Big Band are published internationally by Hal Leonard Publishing, and Sax Quartets by Advance Music, his songs by BMI, Slagle Music.
Slagle served on the faculty of Manhattan School of Music for twenty-one years, as well as associations with Rutgers University, NYU, The New School, William Paterson, NJ and Suny Purchase, as well as master classes and clinics worldwide. He lives with his wife and two daughters near the Hudson river in “Alto Manhattan