Rodney Desborough Slater (born 8 November 1941 in

Crowland Crowland (modern usage) or Croyland (medieval era name and the one still in ecclesiastical use; cf. ) is a town and civil parish in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated between Peterborough and Spalding. Crowland ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

) is a member of the

Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (also known as the Bonzo Dog Band or the Bonzos) was created by a group of British Art school, art-school students in the 1960s. Combining elements of music hall, trad jazz and psychedelic music, psychedelia with sur ...

, playing

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

s and other

musical instrument A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make Music, musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person ...

s (particularly

winds Wind is the natural movement of atmosphere of Earth, air or other gases relative to a planetary surface, planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heatin ...

Career

Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band

He was a founder member of the

. The band was officially formed on 25 September 1962, at Slater’s home at 164c Rosendale Road,

West Dulwich West Dulwich ( ) is a neighbourhood in South London on the southern boundary of Brockwell Park, which straddles the London Borough of Lambeth and the London Borough of Southwark. Croxted Road and South Croxted Road mark the boundary between Sou ...

, when

Vivian Stanshall Vivian Stanshall (born Victor Anthony Stanshall; 21 March 1943 – 5 March 1995) was an English singer-songwriter, musician, author, poet and wit, best known for his work with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, for his exploration of the British uppe ...

and Rodney met and quickly bonded, after being introduced by Slater's flatmate Tom Parkinson. At the time, Slater was already playing in a traditional jazz band at college with Parkinson on sousaphone, and Chris Jennings on trombone. In the 2004 BBC Four documentary ''Vivian Stanshall: The Canyons of His Mind'', Slater claims that the name was inspired by playing a

Dadaist Dada () or Dadaism was an anti-establishment art movement that developed in 1915 in the context of the Great War and the earlier anti-art movement. Early centers for dadaism included Zürich and Berlin. Within a few years, the movement had s ...

word game using cut-up technique, which involves writing words or phrases on paper, tearing the paper into strips and then randomly re-assembling the strips to form new phrases. One of the phrases created was "Bonzo Dog Dada Band": Bonzo Dog after Bonzo the dog, a popular British cartoon character created by artist George Studdy in the 1920s, and

Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an anti-establishment art movement that developed in 1915 in the context of the Great War and the earlier anti-art movement. Early centers for dadaism included Zürich and Berlin. Within a few years, the movement had s ...

after the early 20th-century art movement. Vivian would then say shortly after that he wanted to form a band with Slater with that name, although sometime after, “Dada” changed to “Doo-Dah”. The “Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band” was formed by Stanshall, Slater, and Chris Jennings, to name a few. He was a core member of the band, and performed on their top five hit "I'm the Urban Spaceman" and on all subsequent recordings except 1972's Let's Make Up And Be Friendly. The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band appeared in the

Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

' 1967 TV film Magical Mystery Tour and also in the ground-breaking ITV television series ''

Do Not Adjust Your Set ''Do Not Adjust Your Set'' is a British television series produced originally by Rediffusion, London, and then by the fledgling Thames Television for British commercial television channel ITV from 26 December 1967 to 14 May 1969. The show took ...

'', which featured future

Monty Python Monty Python, also known as the Pythons, were a British comedy troupe formed in 1969 consisting of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. The group came to prominence for the sketch comedy ser ...

members

Eric Idle Eric Idle (born 29 March 1943) is an English actor, comedian, songwriter, musician, screenwriter and playwright. He was a member of the British comedy group Monty Python and the parody rock band the Rutles. Idle studied English at Pembroke Co ...

Terry Jones Terence Graham Parry Jones (1 February 1942 – 21 January 2020) was a Welsh actor, comedian, director, historian, writer and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in English, Jones a ...

and

Michael Palin Sir Michael Edward Palin (; born 5 May 1943) is an English actor, comedian, writer, and television presenter. He was a member of the Monty Python comedy group. He received the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award, BAFTA Fellowship in 2013 and was knig ...

. At the time, Slater owned a pet parrot, a pet that Vivian adored, so, Stanshall wrote the song Mr. Slater's Parrot, in 1970. Slater appeared with the band when they reformed in 2006 performing with them at various shows over the next few years. He was also active in a side project “Three Bonzos and a Piano” with fellow Bonzos Roger Ruskin Spear and Sam Spoons as well as keyboard player Dave Glasson, Andy Roberts on guitar and occasionally 'Legs' Larry Smith.

''Parrotopia!''

In August 2017 Rodney Slater's Parrots released his debut album ''Parrotopia!'', which contained music, dialogue and recitations. The album contains his first works as a writer.

Discography

Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band

Albums

Singles

Solo

References

External links

Bonzo remnants running around
, a 1970 ''Rolling Stone'' article by Charles Alverson; on Slater immediately after the end of the Bonzos. {{DEFAULTSORT:Slater, Rodney 1941 births Living people English saxophonists British male saxophonists British surrealist artists English comedy musicians People from Crowland Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band members 21st-century saxophonists 21st-century British male musicians