 Gary Slechta - Musician of the Month
Gary Slechta is proud to be a charter member of the Riverbend Brass, having
performed at the grand opening of Fellowship Hall on Easter, 1979, and
has played regularly at Riverbend Church ever since. He is privileged
to work closely with Music Minister Carlton Dillard to create the arrangements
for the brass, string, and woodwind ensembles that perform every Sunday
at Riverbend.
He has been a free-lance trumpet player, arranger, orchestrator, and music
publisher in Austin, TX since arriving in 1982. In addition to the Riverbend
Brass Quintet, he is a member of the Austin Symphony, the Austin Ballet,
the Capital of Texas Brass Quintet, the Texas Horns, and various jazz
and salsa bands. He is active in the recording studio and is heard on
many regional and national radio and television jingles, and has performed
on "Austin City Limits" numerous times. Gary has played trumpet
on over fifty albums and soundtracks, and has served as arranger on several,
including RiverbendŐs own "Down By the Riverside."
From symphonies to salsa, Slechta scores music in all styles for groups
of all sorts and sizes. Recently he did symphonic orchestrations for the
Sony/Miramax film "Once Upon a Time In Mexico," scheduled for
a September 2003 release. The orchestrations were recorded by members
of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. His arrangements are in the catalogs
of six publishers, including Shawnee Press and Southern Music. Sixty of
his brass quintet arrangements are available through his company called
Select-a-Press. (www.selectapress.com).
As a member of The Texas Horns he has recently played at dozens of major
blues festivals throughout the US, Canada, and Europe, including those
in Chicago, Kansas City, San Francisco, Ottawa, and the famed North Sea
Festival in The Netherlands. (www.TheTexasHorns.com) .
He holds music degrees from two Iowa institutions: Morningside College
in Sioux City, and Drake University in Des Moines. Following eight years
of directing bands in the public schools, he taught bands, trumpet, and
conducting at Morningside College from 1971-1982. During his tenure at
Morningside he founded and hosted the Tri-State Jazz Festival, which was
destined to become the largest in the mid-west. He was elected to the
Iowa Jazz Educators Hall of Fame in April of 2002.
Gary has two grown children, four grandkids, and a lovely wife, Anne,
who owns her own music copying service in Austin. Free time is spent playing
tennis and boating on nearby Lake Travis.
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