Flea releases the album he has aspired to make for more than 35 years, Honora, today on Nonesuch Records. After a nearly five-decade (and counting) career as one of his generation’s defining rock bassists, he has returned to his first musical loves, jazz and trumpet. The New York Times says the album’s ten songs “embody a deep pathos.” This first full-length solo record features six original tracks composed and arranged by Flea – including “A Plea” and “Traffic Lights” (feat. Thom Yorke) – as well as interpretations of Frank Ocean and Shea Taylor’s “Thinkin Bout You,” George Clinton and Eddie Hazel’s “Maggot Brain,” Jimmy Webb’s “Wichita Lineman,” and Ann Ronell’s “Willow Weep for Me.” Watch the new visualizer for “Wichita Lineman” (feat. Nick Cave) and all other album visuals with direction, animation, and illustration by nespy5euro.
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Flea releases the album he has aspired to make for more than 35 years, Honora, today on Nonesuch Records. After a nearly five-decade (and counting) career as one of his generation’s defining rock bassists, he has returned to his first musical loves, jazz and trumpet. The New York Times says the album’s ten songs “embody a deep pathos.” This first full-length solo record features six original tracks composed and arranged by Flea – including “A Plea” and “Traffic Lights” (feat. Thom Yorke) – as well as interpretations of Frank Ocean and Shea Taylor’s “Thinkin Bout You,” George Clinton and Eddie Hazel’s “Maggot Brain,” Jimmy Webb’s “Wichita Lineman,” and Ann Ronell’s “Willow Weep for Me."
While Flea plays trumpet and bass throughout the album, he is 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, with special vocal performances from Thom Yorke on “Traffic Lights” and Nick Cave on “Wichita Lineman,” contributions from Mauro Refosco (David Byrne, Atoms for Peace), Nate Walcott (Bright Eyes) and more.
This May, Flea and the Honora band embark on a sold-out international tour, playing intimate venues in select cities in North America and Europe. Earlier this week, they made their live debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Watch Flea, Josh Johnson, Jeff Parker, Anna Butterss, Deantoni Parks and a ten-piece orchestra perform “Thinkin Bout You,” and see Flea discuss his journey to Honora, an early encounter with Dizzy Gillespie and more in his interview with Fallon here.
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.”
Flea sat down to talk with Jazz Night in America host Christian McBride to talk about his new album Honora. Hear their conversation here:
Flea’s Debut Solo Album 'Honora' Out Now on Nonesuch Records
Flea releases the album he has aspired to make for more than 35 years, Honora, today on Nonesuch Records. After a nearly five-decade (and counting) career as one of his generation’s defining rock bassists, he has returned to his first musical loves, jazz and trumpet. The New York Times says the album’s ten songs “embody a deep pathos.” This first full-length solo record features six original tracks composed and arranged by Flea – including “A Plea” and “Traffic Lights” (feat. Thom Yorke) – as well as interpretations of Frank Ocean and Shea Taylor’s “Thinkin Bout You,” George Clinton and Eddie Hazel’s “Maggot Brain,” Jimmy Webb’s “Wichita Lineman,” and Ann Ronell’s “Willow Weep for Me."
While Flea plays trumpet and bass throughout the album, he is 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, with special vocal performances from Thom Yorke on “Traffic Lights” and Nick Cave on “Wichita Lineman,” contributions from Mauro Refosco (David Byrne, Atoms for Peace), Nate Walcott (Bright Eyes) and more.
This May, Flea and the Honora band embark on a sold-out international tour, playing intimate venues in select cities in North America and Europe. Earlier this week, they made their live debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Watch Flea, Josh Johnson, Jeff Parker, Anna Butterss, Deantoni Parks and a ten-piece orchestra perform “Thinkin Bout You,” and see Flea discuss his journey to Honora, an early encounter with Dizzy Gillespie and more in his interview with Fallon here.
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.”
Flea sat down to talk with Jazz Night in America host Christian McBride to talk about his new album Honora. Hear their conversation here:
Flea’s Debut Solo Album 'Honora' Out Now on Nonesuch Records
Flea releases the album he has aspired to make for more than 35 years, Honora, today on Nonesuch Records. After a nearly five-decade (and counting) career as one of his generation’s defining rock bassists, he has returned to his first musical loves, jazz and trumpet. The New York Times says the album’s ten songs “embody a deep pathos.” This first full-length solo record features six original tracks composed and arranged by Flea – including “A Plea” and “Traffic Lights” (feat. Thom Yorke) – as well as interpretations of Frank Ocean and Shea Taylor’s “Thinkin Bout You,” George Clinton and Eddie Hazel’s “Maggot Brain,” Jimmy Webb’s “Wichita Lineman,” and Ann Ronell’s “Willow Weep for Me."
While Flea plays trumpet and bass throughout the album, he is 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, with special vocal performances from Thom Yorke on “Traffic Lights” and Nick Cave on “Wichita Lineman,” contributions from Mauro Refosco (David Byrne, Atoms for Peace), Nate Walcott (Bright Eyes) and more.
This May, Flea and the Honora band embark on a sold-out international tour, playing intimate venues in select cities in North America and Europe. Earlier this week, they made their live debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Watch Flea, Josh Johnson, Jeff Parker, Anna Butterss, Deantoni Parks and a ten-piece orchestra perform “Thinkin Bout You,” and see Flea discuss his journey to Honora, an early encounter with Dizzy Gillespie and more in his interview with Fallon here.
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.”
Flea sat down to talk with Jazz Night in America host Christian McBride to talk about his new album Honora. Hear their conversation here:
Trumpeter/composer Ambrose Akinmusire and guitarist/composer Mary Halvorson's album Slo-Mo Neon Luminate Hoverings is due June 12 on Nonesuch. It features four new compositions by each musician plus one collaboration; you can hear the track "Soundcheck" now. The duo, long admirers of each other’s musicianship, began playing together periodically back in 2009. They rehearsed the music on Slo-Mo Neon Luminate Hoverings in January 2025, just before performing it at the NYC club The Stone; they recorded the album the next day at Sear Sound. “I think it’s partly a shared aesthetic and an ease of communication. I feel comfortable to try whatever,” Halvorson says. Akinmusire concurs, “I think it’s rare to find an improviser that all goes and nothing has to go at all. It’s rare to feel like you don’t have to do anything and you can do anything. And that’s what I love about playing with Mary.”
Hurray for the Riff Raff’s Live Forever is now available digitally, with the CD and double LP due May 8. It was captured live over the course of two sold-out summer nights at the Old Town School of Folk Music in bandleader Alynda Segarra’s new home of Chicago. Spanning 14 songs, Live Forever presents their acclaimed 2024 album The Past Is Still Alive in its entirety, as well as a selection of set-defining staples, like “Pa’lante,” “Pyramid Scheme,” and LIFE ON EARTH’s “Precious Cargo” and “Rhododendron.”
