Honora

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.

Best known as a founding member and bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Flea was first introduced to live jazz as a child, when family friends played the music together in his own living room.  “It was the greatest thing I ever saw,” he recalls.  “The wildness, warmth and we of it.  Straight Bebop.  Boom.  I knew there were higher things on this earth, way above the pettiness that had left me disheartened.  The holy trifecta of my life, music, sports and nature was complete.”

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.”

Released: March 2026
Cat: 0075597893588
Label: Nonesuch

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Tracklist