Flea : Honora
Is there ever a point where something should be gatekept? More experienced heads and more rabid fans than I have long opined about the acceptability of new and wildly different artists—especially those with established legacies elsewhere—in specific genre spaces. Is a sound without a uniform still a legitimate sound? Can a one-off experiment become canon? If you surround yourself with certain players, does that make you yourself a player? All of these questions and more encircle Honora, the solo debut from Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea that he unabashedly labels a jazz album.
To hear Flea tell it, his Hall of Fame career as a single-sock-wearin’ punk-pop bassist was all a long detour away from his school-age dream of being a proper jazz trumpeter. After the Chilis dropped two albums in 2022 and toured the world supporting them, he wanted to pause and return to his roots. Despite the relatively bright tones heard here, Honora holds music of struggle. It’s inspired by stories of his great-great-grandmother, the album’s namesake; it presents songs and lyrics that feel like responses to our current sociopolitical moment; and Flea made it with a healthy dose of impostor syndrome, trying to relearn what it meant to follow in the footsteps of titans like Miles and Mingus.
Let’s hit two of the most important notes here: The music of Honora is good, and Flea recruited a lot of help putting it together. Josh Johnson, saxophonist for SML, produced and played on the album. Fellow Chili Peppers John Frusciante (guitar) and Chad Smith (drums) both make appearances, as do multiple RHCP touring players and studio hands, as does Warren Ellis on flute and viola. Thom Yorke’s presence means the personnel includes an informal Atoms for Peace reunion. And four covers support Flea’s efforts here, including Nick Cave bringing wobbly vocal gravitas to a rumbling rendition of Glen Campbell and Jimmy Webb’s “Wichita Lineman.”
The other big thing to understand about Honora is that it’s not just a trumpet album. Brass is merely an accent on “Traffic Lights,” a vehicle for Yorke, the rhythm section, and guitarist Jeff Parker (this LP’s unsung hero) that could easily fit on an album by The Smile. Flea shares bass duties with Johnson’s SML bandmate Anna Butterss, notably hopping between his low end and his horn to carry the lead melody in an arrangement of Frank Ocean’s “Thinkin Bout You.” And the arrangements and original songwriting are almost exclusively credited to Flea here, and they largely work—even the electronic drum pad foundation of “Frailed,” even the protest/spiritual jazz of “A Plea” where his yelped spoken-word threatens to fly off the rails.
Honora is loaded with “fusion” moments, where Flea pulls elements of funk and rock from the long shadow cast by his main musical concern. But we also hear the kind of care and honesty André 3000 brought to his own foray into heretofore unexpected experimentation. This isn’t just a way to ease Flea back into the ways of jazz, but ease his Red Hot Chili Peppers fans—and maybe other genre neophytes—into them as well. You can’t stop the spirits when they need you, and maybe Miles and Mingus are indeed whispering the right things in this old punk’s ear.
Label: Nonesuch
Year: 2026
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Flea : Honora
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