Flea, ‘Honora': Album Review

Until now, Flea, like his longtime friend and Red Hot Chili Peppers bandmate Anthony Kiedis, has resisted any desire to release a solo album, preferring to channel his creative energies into the group he helped cofound in 1982.

Over the years, he's lent his bass playing to records and live performances by a large range of artists — from Johnny Cash and Warren Zevon to Nirvana and Tom Waits. With Honora, Flea makes his solo debut, calls in favors from a few friends (most notably Thom Yorke, who played in the brief '10s band Atoms for Peace with the Chili Pepper, and Nick Cave), and interlaces his bass on most songs with the trumpet.

The instrument choice isn't as peculiar as it may first seem; Flea's first love was music by Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis, and he was proficient as a jazz trumpeter throughout his school and college years. Honora is a jazz album, albeit one with covers of Funkadelic, Frank Ocean and Jimmy Webb songs. And it's more credible than Flea's customary frat-house funk and shirtless live performances let on.

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Honora is both looser and more structured than the typical Red Hot Chili Peppers album. Flea is mostly playing by jazz rules here, working with a core group schooled in the music: bassist Anna Butterss, saxophonist Josh Johnson, drummer Deantoni Parks and guitarist Jeff Parker. Each also comes from experimental and avant-garde backgrounds, allowing the music to flow from a more improvisational place.

Flea wrote or cowrote six of Honora's 10 songs, including the bubbling highlight "Traffic Lights," featuring vocals and synths by Yorke, and the seven-and-a-half-minute flute-supported "A Plea," where Flea does triple duty on bass, trumpet and spoken vocals. Think electric Miles appended with "Wichita Lineman" and Ocean's "Thinkin Bout You." A pleasant detour achieved by a lifelong passion.