Red Hot Chili Peppers’ bassist Flea released his first ever solo album. The first track serves as an abbreviated segue between how most fans know him and what comes on the rest of his jazz album “Honora.”
‘Honora’ a Jazz Album by Flea
“Golden Wingship” may not sound like something one may expect from the Peppers, “the psychedelic instrumental blends the skronking sound of free jazz with familiar rock instrumentation, culminating in discordant cacophony,” according to the Associated Press.
It is within the second song, “A Plea,” that the 63-year-old bassist reveals the focus on this 10-track jazz album, Flea’s first love, the trumpet, which he plays throughout the remainder of the album.
Listeners enjoy the sound of a smooth flute over Flea’s funky bass line and conspicuous trumpet dominate the eight-,minute track before the lyrical plea is heard; “Now we are human beings right here. Human beings. We’re here, together, he shouts. Live for peace. Live for love. It’s all we got. See the god in everyone.”
Some may be surprised the famed rocker/sometimes actor chose jazz for his solo debut. But for Flea, it is a return to form. The multi-instrumentalist from Australia has long spoken about his early love of improvisation music and the trumpet until fate stepped in and he became a teenage in a rock band.
Flea relies on a powerhouse list of collaborators, including Thom Yorke. Nick Cave croons over a sultry guitar and Flea’s soothing Flumpet, a hybrid brass instrument, for a cover of Glen Campbell’s “Wichita Lineman.”
“Honora” contains four cover songs, including Funkadelic’s “Maggot Brain,” which opens with George Clinton’s spoken word, followed by an instrumental configuration of clarinet, flute, vibraphone, and trumpet.
There is also an instrumental rendition of Frank Ocean’s “Thinkin Bout You,” a wistful arrangement of strings over electric bass and trumpet.
Much like the discography of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Honora” is approachable but interesting, though this album errs on the side of accessibility.
Birthing ‘Honora’
When Flea turned 60 years old, he made a deal with himself: During the two-year-long Red Hot Chili Peppers’ stadium tour, he would practice the trumpet every day. He had learned the instrument when he was a child, but never mastered it. Once the tour was finished, regardless of his progression, he would record an album on the brass instrument.
By the end of the tour, Flea had put in hundreds of practice hours, spent a significant amount of time with L.A. jazz legend Rickey Washington and racked up innumerable noise complaints in hotels across the globe.
In this jazz album, he is reconnecting with the oldest parts of himself. “I’m FLOATING, waves of light are surging through all of me, I’m rolling around on the floor laughing, wall, carpet, ceiling, sweat, window, kick drum, shimmering golden color,” he wrote in his memoir, Acid for the Children.
Sources:
Pitchfork: Flea: Honora Album Review
AP News: Music Review: Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Flea realizes lifelong dream with solo jazz
Featured Image Courtesy of Verius Photography’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
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