| George
Slater Sr. (1862-1940) lived at
48 McElwain Avenue
and was
a prominent
Cohoes
musician for over 50 years. George played with the old Maskie Band, later known as the
Troy
Cadet Band and
Troy City Band. He also played with the Nollers and Doring Bands and served as president of the Troy Musical
Union. He was a member of the Cohoes Masonic Lodge, the Fellowcraft Club of
Cohoes
, and
St. John’s
Episcopal Church. In addition to
his musical skills, in his youth he was an accomplished athlete. He held records
for both the pole vault jump and the run, hitch and
kick, capturing the latter title from the Canadian record holder. He traveled
widely to compete at many events, including the Caledonian Games. |
|
His son George Holt Slater (1887-1964), a virtuoso trombone
and baritone horn player, was well known beyond the region. He was a feature
soloist with the Arthur Pryor Band in the early 1920s. He was also at one time
a member of the John Philip Sousa Band, performed in and directed
Troy
’s Doring Band, and was an honorary member of the Miami (FL)
Drum and Bugle Corps. In the 1930s and 1940s, he was a music teacher and band director
for the Bennington (VT) schools. He directed his own band in the Capital Region
of New York in the 1950s and 1960s. George Holt Slater died while directing the
band at the opening of the Cohoes Little League season in May of 1964. |
|
George
Holt Slater’s son Kenneth Burton Slater (1917-2005) was raised in
Cohoes
, and began his
musical education studying the cornet under the direction of his father. He
attended the
New York
Military
Academy
at
Cornwall-on-Hudson
and upon his graduation in 1937 accepted a position as cornetist with the U.S. Marine Band. He performed with the band for many years in
concerts at the U.S. Capitol and the White House, at state dinners and other ceremonial
events, and on radio broadcasts. As a cornet soloist with the U.S. Army Field
Band, he toured the
United States
,
Mexico
and Europe; while in
Paris
he received the Gold
Medal given by the French Grand Republic Band. In the 1950s, he conducted the Almas Temple Shrine Band in
Washington
,
DC
,
which won the National Shrine Band competition in 1955. Over his long career, he was conductor for the
Hagerstown
,
MD
Municipal Band in the 1960s and 1970s, directed the Shippensburg, PA City Band,
and was a frequent guest conductor for the Virginia Grand Military Band in
Arlington
. He served as
president of the Pennsylvania Bandmasters Association, was a member of the
American Bandmasters Association and a charter member of the Shrine Bandmasters
Association. Kenneth Slater is listed in
the Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music,
Composers and Their Music. Among his musical compositions are “Mohawk View” for cornet and band, and the march “
Almas on Parade.”
The Slater and Holt family plots are located in
Oakwood
Cemetery
in
Troy
.
|
|
| Many thanks to Evelyn Slater for providing information
used in this article. |