Alistair Rae, who lives in Aberdeen with his wife Lily, said he was unaware that his son, who was brought up as a Mormon, had ever taken illegal substances, although the 31-year-old’s brothers knew he took them “now and again” and Bailey Rae later told the inquest into his death that he took recreational drugs when he was drinking.
The saxophonist died on March 22, 2008 after spending the previous day with a friend, a recovering heroin addict. He had drunk alcohol, taken a “sniff of coke” and when he was found he had 40 millilitres of methadone in his blood. A coroner recorded a verdict of death by misadventure.
His death shocked his many fans, who paid tribute to the musician on social networking websites, and music producer Mark Ronson was among those who attended his funeral.
In an interview to be published in tomorrow’s Sunday Herald Magazine, Mr Rae said: “Jason would have been as shocked as anybody because everything was going so well for him with his career. But just like that he was gone.”
Mr Rae, a retired music teacher, said Jason, who attended Oldmachar Academy in Aberdeen, had a “god-given gift” for music. He began playing the oboe and then took up the saxophone before he enrolled in the Leeds College of Music to study jazz.
He met Bailey Rae while the pair were living in the city and they married in 2001. She went on to top the charts in 2006 with her single, Put Your Records On, while his group, Haggis Horns, released their own album and toured with Ronson.
Bailey Rae’s long-awaited second album, which she was working on when her husband died, is released on Monday. Two songs on The Sea were written after Rae’s death and in an interview last week, she spoke about the first track, Are You Here.
“It is about loss, yes, and specific loss,” she said. “Someone might listen to the song and be confused by the tenses. I talk in the present tense deliberately. That’s because when you lose someone, you often can’t begin to think of them in the past tense.
“It makes no sense for me to say ‘was’. It makes more sense for me to say ‘is’.”
So far the album, which is dedicated to Jason Rae, has been well-received, with one reviewer saying it “reflects her emotional journey” and has a “hopeful feel”. Another praised its “strength and depth”.
Mr Rae, who is in regular contact with his daughter-in-law, gave his own opinion. “The words are excellent,” he said. “If you listen to the first track – well, I wouldn’t say that’s Jason put to rest but it lets Corinne get on with the rest of the album.”
Mr Rae said he remembers his son as “the life and soul”. “He had a great sense of humour. He had a very strong personality as well. He was a leader,” he said.
Although Jason Rae’s religious upbringing meant that he did not touch alcohol or tobacco as a youngster, he began drinking when he moved out of his family home. In the weeks before he died, however, he had cut down on his drinking.
A coroner concluded that he died after an accidental overdose of methadone and alcohol. Forensic physiologist Professor Peter Vanezis said that as Jason Rae was a “naive user” of methadone, his body would be more severely affected by the drug than an experienced user.
Mr Rae said he still did not understand why his son had taken methadone, adding: “All Jason had in his system was 40 millilitres (of methadone), which is just a slug. That’s all he took. I don’t know why he did it. He took a slug and that’s what stopped him breathing.”
Read the full interview in the Sunday Herald magazine 31.01.10
