Colton Sleister began playing trombone at Westwood Elementary under the fantastic teaching and guidance of Mrs. Rachel Urban. He fell in love with band and the trombone and practiced, played, improved, and most importantly had a great time. Over the next few years, his enjoyment and development as a musician grew under the teaching of a series of dedicated and inspiring band directors and trombone players.

By the time Colton was a freshman in high school, he was practicing for Iowa All State Band auditions and later South Central Iowa (SCIBA) District Honor Band auditions. Accordingly, this put the Sleister family in the market for an F-attachment trombone. The price points available at the music store were simply too high, and his band directors wisely warned against too-good-to-be true deals for instruments found online. This put us in the market for a used trombone. The used market for high quality trombones on Craigslist is almost nonexistent, but fortunately, a suitable trombone was eventually found.

At this point, Colton and Darren (Colton’s father) Sleister both noticed a shortage of used trombones in the Des Moines Metro area in both student and professional levels. To fill this shortage, Colton bought 16 trombones with the savings from summers of detasseling, cleaned and got them into good playing condition, and advertised them to fifth graders joining band in the fall. 14 instruments sold, and the shortage that the Sleister saw was confirmed. Thus began Sleister Trombones, and the following year they did the same thing with a greater number of instruments.

In 2015, Sleister Trombones became Sleister Brass with the expansion into used trumpets. By this time, Colton had also made the Iowa All-State Band two times on trombone.

2016 saw the addition of a repair shop, which allowed Sleister Brass to do an increased volume of instruments AND offer repair and cleaning services to their customers.

At this point, Sleister Brass has become a dealer for E.K. Blessing, an American maker of quality brass instruments since 1906. Sleister Brass is run as a father-son partnership between Colton and Darren Sleister and is proud to offer the same quality and fair prices that has garnered enthusiasm since 2013. Music has been instrumental in Colton's development as a person and we are thrilled to be able to help others on that same fruitful journey. Late in 2017, Sleister Brass became Sleister Music to reflect the expansion into clarinets, flutes, and saxophones as well as the numerous other planned offerings of the company.

As of 2018, Sleister Music is an official dealer of Buffet-Crampon as well as Central Iowa's BAC (Best American Craftsmen) Musical Instruments dealer. 2018 also saw the rollout of Sleister Music's rent-to-own program, another way in which we try to make getting a quality instrument as easy as possible!

2020- Colton completed his undergraduate degree at Drake University, where he played trombone in the audition Wind Symphony and studied chemistry, a discipline that allows us to think 'differently' than a conventional music store might think!

Sleister Music made it through the early COVID-19 turbulence!

In 2021, Sleister Music relocated to our current home at 2201 W 1st St in Ankeny where we showcase both our repair expertise in the front-and-center shop and also our retail area with various musical instruments and accessories.

Sleister Music moved within Ankeny to our current beautiful shop space and store at 2201 W 1st Street in Ankeny. This larger space enables Sleister to efficiently serve a greater number of band programs and musicians.