Steve Slagle was born in Los Angeles, California where he got his first saxophone and later attended Berklee College of Music in Boston on a DownBeat scholarship. One of his first gigs, at the age of 18, was in the Stevie Wonder Band, in Boston. Berklee is also where he met many musicians from all over the world whom he still remains close with. With his eyes on New York City, Steve moved there permanently in 1977, where he started to work with Machito and the Afro-Cuban Orchestra (lead alto) which was the band Charlie Parker and Dizzy had played with, as well stints with Lionel Hampton, Woody Herman and Cab Calloway. All of this was great once in a lifetime experience which you cant get any other way than doing it.
