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SONS OF RA “Standard Deviation”
SONS OF RA “Standard Deviation”
By Dr. Abner Mality
Listen up, you cats, time for Doc Mality to cool his jets and fly into a different scene, if you reach what I’m sayin’. It’s true, Daddy...constant exposure to brain-blasting metal can wear a brother down, so it ain’t such a bad idea to stretch now and then. I’ve been rediscovering my prog rock vibe lately and even getting a classical groove on. So why not give Chicago’s SONS OF RA a try, even if I don’t exactly have the vocabulary and knowledge to judge a jazz act.
SONS OF RA have been around almost 20 years now, but I haven’t been working the same side of the street, dig? These guys aren’t what you’d call Dixieland or Big Band...they are more of a jazz fusion outfit that’s not afraid to shake things up with a dash of heavy music and prog rock. I’m thinking this is probably an updated take on WEATHER REPORT or MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA. There’s sax here and some flute and ivory ticklin’, but really the SONS lean on electric guitar, bass and drums for their sound. I see the drummer is Mike Rataj from ARBOGAST and MINE COLLAPSE, so the cat knows how pound that kit like a fiend.
They really mix things up and play many different styles, “Disintegration” (Alabama Revisited) shows right away they can be dark and heavy, as both electric guitar and sax battle each other with fierce sounds. Also, I must relate that SONS OF RA is purely an instrumental act, so thank God we don’t get scat vocals! “Outside Looking In” really gets hot and funky, almost ZAPPA-like and the horns are sounding sexy. “Don’t Know Yet” is that WEIRD jazz that drives a lot of folks to the door...strange, skittering noises like a spider wearing tap dance shoes leads to something that reaches almost death metal heaviness...really crushing. A wild, disjointed tune!
“Intrepidation” is altogether more laid back, pretty much pure fusion...nice restrained guitar work and cool drumming, a bit on the math rock side. “Vashkar” is a highlight...really spacy jazz with a big Hammond organ sound in the background and improvised sounding sax and guitar that builds to a big climax. “Upstart” is more weirdo jazz with a nervous, ominous feel to it and some heavy riffing folded in. “Porous Silver” is an upbeat funky tune...nice but fairly conventional. “Nature Boy” (a title that reminds of an annoying co-worker of years ago) sounds like it might be a cover of some kind. Starts off as cool as an igloo and laid back...kind of like something you’d hear at 3 A.M. at the Green Mill. It does pick up pace and gets more intense as it rolls on. The album wraps up with “Lividity And The Ascension”, a short tune with more of a hard rock feel and emphasis on kicking guitar
This is probably the most saxophone I’m going to hear this year, if not for several years. If the Doc was a genuine jazzbo, I could bring up a lot of different names to compare this to, but it is better for me not to speak of matters I know little of. I will say that “Standard Deviation” was actually a cool deviation from my usual fare, but this isn’t what I’ll diving into on a regular basis.
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