Dennis Slater Interview
Dennis Slater is an author, educator, and music journalist based in Calgary, Alberta. His passion for jazz music was sparked by his father-in-law, who was a jazz musician in Saskatchewan in the 1930’s and ‘40s, and had a huge collection of records. As a freelance journalist, Slater specializes in musician interviews and album reviews, and has been published in Calgary’s Fast Forward Weekly (FFWD), Swerve, and Avenue magazines. He has written a yet-unpublished book, Swing City, which documents the dancehalls and culture of Calgary during the Big Band era. Slater is also an archivist and curator for the Alberta Health Services Archives and Historic Collections, and a guest lecturer at the University of Calgary and the Glenbow Museum, where he teaches courses on Canadian history, creative writing for the fine arts, and comic culture.