Now in its 55th year, the One O’Clock Lab Band is the premiere performing ensemble of UNT’s world-famous jazz program. The ensemble includes five saxes, five trumpets, five trombones, guitar, piano, bass, drums and percussion players. In addition to four Grammy nominations, the band has received awards from National Public Radio, VISA International, The International Association of Jazz Educators and the Dallas Observer Reader’s Poll. It has performed at the White House and with such artists as Tony Bennett and Ella Fitzgerald.

Directed by Neil Slater, who received his own Grammy nomination for best arrangement on Lab 91, the ensemble is regarded as unsurpassed among university jazz bands. The ensemble has toured Europe, Mexico, Australia, Japan and Russia, and past members have gone on to play in bands led by Branford Marsalis, Doc Severinsen, Harry Connick, Jr., Count Basie, David Lee Roth, Woody Herman and Bill Evans.

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.

Website: http://www.music.unt.edu/jazz/one.html
Recordings: http://www.music.unt.edu/jazz/records.html#one