While some rock musicians fill the boredom of long tours with nefarious activities, bassist Flea spent Red Hot Chili Peppers’ global jaunt of 2022-24 practising the trumpet, an instrument he first played as a child before funky rock pulled him away. Now, the 63-year-old’s daily routine and open spirit has produced his own deeply meditative and groovy jazz odyssey.
Named after a family member, Honora brings together a star-studded cast of peers and LA jazz and experimental luminaries for 10 tracks spanning Flea-penned instrumentals, chanted mantras and imaginative reinterpretations. The bassist doubles as narrator for spirited track A Plea, a yelled call for sanity (“Live for peace! Live for love!”) amid global madness and takes his trumpet to Eddie Hazel’s famous guitar solo on a beautifully plaintive remodel of Funkadelic’s Maggot Brain.
Radiohead singer and Flea’s Atoms for Peace bandmate Thom Yorke co-writes and sings the dreamlike, elastic-grooved Traffic Lights and Nick Cave’s rendition of Jimmy Webb’s Wichita Lineman sounds exactly as you’d expect. Honora is never dilettantish, though: it’s sincere, exploratory and soulful. Tortoise guitarist Jeff Parker and bassist Anna Butterss power the frisky Morning Cry. Frailed’s minimalist dub groove allows Flea’s thoughtful trumpet-playing room to breathe and he blows Frank Ocean’s Thinkin Bout You over a bed of strings to gorgeous effect. Although there are fleeting contributions from Chilis’ bandmates Chad Smith and John Frusciante, it’s a joy to hear the bass man venturing so far from the day job.
