Kirk Hale started teaching himself to play by ear at the age of 13 after  the debut of Carole King’s Tapestry album.  Teaching himself to play the  songs that he enjoyed, Kirk found his learning curve to be a straight arrow up  when he entered the music scene professionally full time in Galveston at the  then Key Largo Hotel, Ocean Annie’s Piano Bar (Hilton Seawall).  “I didn’t  know jazz standards or any show tunes.” says Hale even though he went on to  enjoy long term engagements for almost 30 years at different venues including  The Wentletrap Restaurant, Galveston, The Tremont House Hotel, Galveston,  Nordstrom Dallas and Austin, The Mansion on Turtle Creek, Dallas, Lowe’s Anatole  Hotel, Dallas and The Driskill Hotel in Austin.  Kirk returned to Galveston  in 2010 and currently plays at the Galveston Country Club and one Friday a month  at 23rd Street Station. 

For 40 years Susan Slaughter has led the brass section of  the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra being the only female first chair trumpet  player of a major symphony orchestra in the world.  Only Bud Herseth,  principal trumpet player for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for 50 years, went  longer.  Slaughter has worked with 5 music directors:  Walter  Susskind, Jerzy Semkow, Leonard Slatkin, Hans Vonk and David Robertson.   When she auditioned for the SLSO, one committee  member saw a female candidate and decided it was time to refill his coffee cup.  Then she started playing, and he sat back down. She was hired as fourth trumpet, and just four  years later she was made Principal Trumpet.  "It was a very big change from  her predecessor," recalls Slatkin, who eventually took the reins of the SLSO and  is now Music Director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. "Susan brought a kind  of darkness to the sound.... Almost always it was not just a straight note;  there was a little bit of vibrato, a little bit of expression. And the ease of  virtuosity was extraordinary, the way she could toss off passages of incredible  difficulty." 

Susan Slaughter and local pianist Kirk Hale will be performing songs Satin Doll, A Taste Of Honey, Chuck Mangione’s Hill Where The  Lord Hides and more to kick off Mardi Gras 2019 at 23rd Street Station Piano Bar, 1706 23rd Street Galveston, Friday February 22nd 6pm - 9pm.