Ashley Slater

Who is Ashley Slater?

Ashley Slater is a UK-based trombone player and best known for his work with Norman Cook in the band Freak Power. He was born in Schefferville, Canada in 1961. At the age of about 6 months, Ashley and his parents moved to Hanford, California.

In 1977, he moved to Edinburgh, Scotland on his own, and there joined the regimental band of the 1st battalion the Royal Scots as a bass trombonist. He also got his first taste of minor stardom whilst standing in for the lead singer of Northern Irish R&B band Otis and the Elevators.

In 1983 after leaving the army, he attended the National Centre for Orchestral Studies, after which he joined the anarchic big band collective Loose Tubes. Over the next few years he was the bass and tenor trombonist of choice for the likes of George Russell, Carla Bley, Andrew Poppy, El Sonido de Londres, Billy Jenkins, Django Bates and Andy Sheppard. During this time he also worked as a session musician recording and arranging for The The, Fairground Attraction, Julia Fordham and the Rolling Stones.

After a gig at Ronnie Scott's jazz club in London with Loose Tubes, Slater was approached by Rob Partridge, the then head of the Antilles Label on Island Records. At this time Ashley and a fellow loose tuber, John Eacott had also been singing and writing songs for their funk band project called Microgroove. Their USP was an electric tuba played by Oren Marshall. They released one album called The Human Groove in 1988.