Review: Flea — Honora

Flea
Honora
Nonesuch
Street: 03.27.2026
Flea = Miles Davis + Thelonious Monk + Geordie Greep

Flea is a rock ‘n’ roll shaman who has drifted into jazz legend. His first solo album Honora feels Miles Davis-cool with Thelonious Monk’s mad, improvisational leanings without losing any of his Red Hot Chili Peppers immediate, in-your-face awareness.

It’s like André 3000, who stepped away from the super funk/soul, psychedelic vibrations of Outkast to make a solo record, New Blue Sun — an album of experimental ambience focused entirely on the flute. Similarly, Flea has rediscovered the trumpet, his first instrument. He’s unburying something that has always been there. Always belonged. Always loved.

The opening track “Golden Wingship” is a psychedelic space trip jazz opener that spins weirdly woven improvisations that spill out across the rest of the record. “The Plea” unfolds like a jazzy cosmic black midi song with Flea’s singing sounding very much like lead singer Geordie Greep. “I don’t care about your fucking politics / I don’t want to hear about your politics / Well, he said ‘Boo!’ / Alright, she said ‘Hurray’ / Civil war, civil war.” Flea sings into the void, hoping his voice is heard. “Everyone just wants to be loved / Everyone just wants love / See the god in everyone.” Flea adds with purpose, “And everything besides love is cowardice.” Flea ends with a plea: “Build a bridge, it’s where the courage is / Shine your light / Shine it true.”

With “Traffic Lights,” Flea dives deep into the mind of Radiohead with vocals from Thom Yorke, his Atoms For Peace bandmate. Flea’s trumpet dances effortlessly around a soft click/clack synth line that would have fit comfortably on OK Computer. “And how will we live?” Yorke sings, “How will we live / Past the traffic lights / In the upside down.” Even with the Radiohead influences, Flea fills in all the spaces and makes the song his own.

“Frailed” starts with a pulse like a heartbeat, a hi-hat and a simple bass line. Around 1:25, a soft creeping trumpet arrives and floats around like a butterfly drifting about in a light breeze. Flea is in full jazz mode, running the changes. The rock ‘n’ roll Red Hot Chili Pepper is improvisation blowing with the touch of a seasoned jazz veteran.

Flea’s vocals return on “Maggot Brain,” delivering a sermon. “Mother Earth is pregnant for the third time / Because ladies and gentleman you have knocked her up,” Flea sings with held intensity. “I have tasted the minds of the maggots of the universe / But I was not offended / For I knew I had to rise above it all / Or drown in my own shit.” Flea goes full-on Miles Davis, fucking around and finding out on an instrument he has already mastered — an instrument that has been in his blood stream since childhood.

Three quarters through Honora, Flea opens space for a Nick Cave song called “Wichita Lineman.” It’s a song written in 1968 for American country music artist Glen Campbell. Nick Cave, with his brooding vocals, makes the song brilliantly fit right in. Flea weaves it in perfectly.

The stand-out track on this record is the gorgeous, sublime “Thinkin Bout You,” a Frank Ocean song that Flea pulls the same pop bliss instrumentally that Ocean delivered vocally. Flea hammers it home like strawberries and fine wine with the same butterfly I mentioned above floating in a summer breeze at a park, at dusk at the end of a perfect day. It’s one of the most beautifully perfect songs Flea has ever been attached to. It’s a masterclass.

On the final track “Free As I Want to Be,“ it’s Flea announcing that he contains multitudes. With Honora, Flea has created a pleasant place for a rock ‘n’ roll icon to step over the rubicon into a jazz world that fits him perfectly, a second act on an already overflowing resume. Flea is an L.A. Legend and he brings Los Angeles to this record, crowding it with elite L.A. musicians and combining everything with his iconic misfit energy.

Flea is universally beloved. He is the American dream in an America in which we no longer know what that dream is. Flea is a legend. Flea is a national treasure. Flea is the universe and energy. Flea is what we need right now. —Russ Holsten

Read more music reviews by Russ Holsten:
Review: Kim Gordon — PLAY ME
Review: Bonnie Prince Billy – We Are Together Again