Quality albums by career bassists are rare things. The instrument’s genius tends to lie in propulsion rather than melody, which is perhaps why Red Hot Chili Peppers talisman Flea has pivoted to the trumpet on ‘Honora’, an instrument that allows his famously restless musical brain a little more room to roam.
The backstory is charmingly obsessive. Approaching 60, Flea resolved to practise trumpet daily during a Chili Peppers tour, reconnecting with an instrument he had summoned a tune from as a kid. The resulting record sits somewhere between exploratory jazz session and collaborative art project, gathering an impressive cast from the Los Angeles scene, including guitarist Jeff Parker, bassist Anna Butterss and saxophonist Josh Johnson.
At its best, ‘Honora’ is strikingly imaginative. The nimble Morning Cry darts through post-bop twists and turns, Flea’s trumpet wobbling between tentative lyricism and bursts of skittering improvisation while Parker’s guitar keeps the whole thing airborne.
Elsewhere, Traffic Lights, featuring Thom Yorke, glides along an elastic jazz-rock pulse that feels both dreamy and faintly unsettling at once.
The record’s centrepiece is a haunting reinterpretation of Funkadelic’s Maggot Brain. Where Eddie Hazel’s original guitar solo howled with grief, Flea’s trumpet circles the melody with mournful restraint, surrounded by soft woodwind and vibraphone.
Still, for all its skill and adventurous spirit, ‘Honora’ never quite settles into a unified identity. With its rotating cast of collaborators and mix of originals and covers, including Frank Ocean’s Thinkin Bout You and Jimmy Webb’s Wichita Lineman, the album can feel less like a cohesive statement than a sequence of engaging studio encounters.
None of which makes it dull. In fact, the opposite: this is a richly musical, frequently inspired record. If the phrase “bassist goes jazz” might initially conjure Spinal Tap’s Derek Smalls embarking on a ludicrous jazz odyssey, think again. ‘Honora’ proves the real thing can be considerably higher quality — even if it occasionally sounds like several different bands sharing the same space.
Flea and the Honora Band Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
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