Flea Honora

Flea's Debut Solo Album Honora on 2LP: Features Guests Nick Cave, Thom Yorke, Jeff Parker, Anna Butterss, Deantoni Parks and More. 

After a nearly five-decade (and counting) career as one of his generation's defining rock bassists, Flea releases his first full-length solo album, Honora, on Nonesuch Records. Time and space have finally allowed him to return to his first musical loves: jazz and playing the trumpet.

For Honora, which takes its name from a beloved family member, Flea composed and arranged the music, and also plays trumpet and bass throughout, joined by an elite crew of modern jazz visionaries: album producer and saxophonist Josh Johnson, guitarist Jeff Parker, bassist Anna Butterss, and drummer Deantoni Parks. The record features vocals from Flea, as well as friends Thom Yorke and Nick Cave. Mauro Refosco (David Byrne, Atoms for Peace) and Nate Walcott (Bright Eyes), among others, also join the band. The album comprises six original songs—including one co-written by Flea, Johnson, and Yorke—as well as interpretations of tunes by George Clinton and Eddie Hazel, Jimmy Webb, Frank Ocean and Shea Taylor, and Ann Ronell.

Though he dreamed of being like his heroes Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and Clifford Brown, Flea's path went a different direction: His close friend Hillel Slovak asked him to pick up the bass and join his rock band when he was 16, leading Flea into a decades-long career with the hugely successful Red Hot Chili Peppers. As Flea neared his 60th birthday, he realized if he did not pick up the trumpet again, he probably never would. So he resolved to practice every day for two years—in the midst of a stadium tour with Red Hot Chili Peppers, with a wife and newborn at home. At the end of those two years, he would make an album, regardless of where his knowledge or talents ended up.

Until Honora, Flea had never been scared of making music before. He worried that the all-star band he had assembled would think he was "a non-playing motherf*cker, charlatan, rock poseur or fan." But, he says, "It turns out they were all the most genuinely supportive people, moving me deeply and daily with their generous spirits… Sitting in a room and playing the music with them made me feel like I was on drugs. I was buzzing, tripping and floating around the studio. I love them, they truly gave of themselves. I bow all the way down."

Musicians:

Flea - lead vocals, bass, trumpet
Nathaniel Walcott - trumpet, keyboards
Josh Johnson - saxophone, backing vocals
Ricky Washington - alto flute
Vikram Devasthali - trombone
Jeff Parker - guitar, backing vocals
Anna Butterss - double bass, backing vocals
Deantoni Parks - drums, backing vocals
Mauro Refosco - percussion
Thom Yorke - lead vocals, piano, synthesizer on "Traffic Lights"
Nick Cave - lead vocals on "Wichita Lineman"
Chris Warren - backing vocals