Ashley Slater's HEPTET

Heptet is Ashley Slater’s new band. It was formed in 2024 but the roots of the group extend further back in time. 

About 13 years ago, Ashley was playing at Wiesen Festival in Austria with his band Freak Power. He decided to drive to Austria in his newly acquired Porsche. This was no rich man’s Porsche, it was a 944, quite old and it actually died on the journey back to the UK from Austria. On the way home, he decided to stop off in Prague, where he was booked to do a couple of shows with Czech funk band, Monkey Business. While he was in Prague, he sat in at a few jazz jam sessions, which is where he met Jan Korinek, a Czech Hammond player. 

They talked about forming a band for 13 years and finally, in 2024, Ashley decided it was time to make the band happen. 

They got together with Oliver Lipensky, a fabulous Czech drummer and recorded some basic tracks together, which became the backbone of Heptet.

Ashley had long been a fan of Nick Etwell’s, the leader of UK band The Filthy Six and asked Nick to take the trumpet chair, to which he agreed. 

He’s also joined on saxes by Aleksey Svidersky, a Ukrainian friend whom Ashley has known for about 15 years. Aleksey now lives in Germany, where he emigrated following the events of 2022 and Nichola Pope on baritone sax. Nichola is a familiar sight and sound in the UK jazz and pop scenes. 

What sets this band apart from most bands of this ilk is the fact that there is no guitar and no bass guitar. So, Ashley has arranged the horns to do the work of those missing instruments and that gives the band a unique sound. 

The material they play is all new arrangements of songs from his own back catalog (Turn On Tune In, Private Sunshine and Husband, to name a few) as well as imaginative covers of songs like Paul Simon’s Love Me Like a Rock and Doodlin’, a wordilicious Mark Murphy chart. 

KONCERTY

28. 8. 2025	Praha	Jazz Dock