Flea – Honora (Nonesuch) (13th Floor Album Review)
Let us consider…or reconsider…Flea…sock-wearing Rock & Roll Hall of Fame bass player, political activist, drug addict, native Australian, and now…jazz musician.
A founding member of Red Hot Chili Peppers, the 63-year-old slap bassist has reinvented himself, or, more accurately, returned to his roots on Honora, his debut solo album.
Named after “a beloved family member” (hint: the cover photo is of his Iranian mother-in-law), Honora finds Flea taking up his trumpet and blowing.
Before the funk, Flea was raised by a jazz-loving stepfather named Walter Urban Jr, a jazz affectianado who introduced the young Michael Balzary to the world of Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong and Chet Baker and so, the trumpet was Flea’s first instrument.
Fast-forward to 2022 and Flea is on the road with the Chili Peppers and his 60th birthday is coming up fast. Realizing its now or never, Flea makes a vow to himself…practice his trumpet every day for two years and then make an album.
The result is Honora.
Recorded in LA and inspired by the same scene that brought us Kamasi Washington and Thundercat, Honora was produced by Josh Johnson, saxophonist, composer and Grammy-winning producer and former Musical Director for soul singer Leon Bridges.
Johnson plays sax, synths and piano all over the album, which is anchored by a rhythm section of drummer Deantoni Parks, double bassist Anna Butterss, percussionist Mauro Refosco and guitarist Jeff Parker.
There are additional horn players, backing vocalists and guest stars…most notably Thom Yorke and Nick Cave.
But Honora doesn’t sound of feel like a star-studded ego-trip.
Instead it’s a rather low key, reflective affair.
Six of the 10 tracks are Flea originals and the covers range from jazz standards like Willow Weep For Me to pop standards like Jimmy Webb’s Wichita Lineman.
The tracklisting, which is front-loaded by the originals, puts the focus on Flea’s own compositions while, perhaps the covers and the guest turns are there to bring in the curious.
Tracks like the 7 minute A Plea do feature Flea’s signature bass runs but the groove is tasteful…and then things get noisy, giving the listener both comfort and complication.
And yes, Flea can play the trumpet.
Traffic Lights is another bass-driven track, this one featuring Thom Yorke, recalling Flea and he’s collaborations as Atoms For Peace, with Yorke’s ghostly vocal fluttering alongside Flea’s trumpet and Parker’s guitar.
Even the cover of Funkadelic’s Maggot Brain has been re-imagined and cooled down with some very nice trumpet work.
The one outlier is Wichita Lineman. It is one of my very favourite songs, and Nick Cave really pours himself into Webb’s lyric and melody, but it sounds like it belongs on a different album.
Otherwise, Honora finds Flea “Free As I Want To Be”, which is the name of the final track of Honora, a rare record that surprises and delights more than it plays into expectations.
Marty Duda
Honora is out Friday, March 27th via Nonesuch Records
