Ashley Slater Heptet: ‘This is F*****g Nice’

Sometimes you think you know an artist then - like Ashley Slater with ‘This is F*****g Nice’ - they prove you wrong. In a good way.

Nothing to do with the number seven, Ashley Slater’s Heptet was formed with his friend and Hammond organ player Jan Korinek. This new album is accompanied by several live dates, with a proposed official launch later in the year.

As is usual, Ashley sings and plays trombone and he’s also credited as producer and arranger on this latest album. The organ of Jan Korinek is vital to the heptet (and yes, it’s very ‘hep’ and cool) sound. They’re joined by Herman Mehari (trumpet), Aleksy Svidersky (tenor sax, percussion), Osian Roberts (baritone sax) and Oliver Lipenský (drums). The recording was done ‘old school’, with all the musicians in the same room at the same time. And you can tell - this is as far away from over-produced or AI-generated music as is possible.

This is F*****g Nice is a grooving and absolutely hep collection of tunes, beautifully arranged and performed: some of them you might not want to play while in the car with small children. Ashley betrays his softer side on the opening track - Can I Sing a Song for You? - and a rare standard - Still Crazy After All These Years. The heptet version of You Don’t Love Me is another winning arrangement.

It wouldn’t be an Ashley Slater project without an arrangement of the stupendous Freak Power hit Turn On, Tune In, Cop Out and the heptet version here takes a lovely swing approach which deserves some mainstream radio play around the world. It’s a contender for the A Playlist, for sure.

Ashley is a good friend and I first met him in around 1981 (its all a bit of a blur) and we played together briefly in Loose Tubes a few years later. It was great to interview him for Harmonious World episodes in April 2021 and then again in November 2024.

Regardless of our friendship, This is F*****g Nice really is.

You can find Ashley Slater’s ‘This is F*****g Nice’ on Bandcamp