Once again, Flea's solo stuff is not what I expect

[brianrost]

If he takes that large a band on the road, I can’t imagine it even breaking even.

He gets a decent tone on the horn but if I was listening to it not knowing who it was, I wouldn’t be impressed. I’m glad he’s in a position to be able to do it, though.

 

[JC BASS 91]

What is it with bass players and trumpet? I have seen and read about a lot of bass players that also play trumpet or had played trumpet before switching to bass.

I learned to play trumpet in 6th grade and played it through 10th grade, trading it in my 12th grade year for my first bass.
My son plays trumpet, starting in 6th grade and picking up the bass as a second instrument his freshman year and playing bass in the jazz band all through high school while continuing with trumpet for concert and marching band.

Makes me want to start a research project to see just what percentage of bass players did play or still play trumpet.

 

[WG Plum]

Entwistle was a horn player too.

 

[Swamp_Ronin]

Of course, he's no great horn player. But hes good enough, and he might get a lot of rock folks to consider the trumpet

 

[EddiePlaysBass]

Didn't RJ Dio also start on horn, before moving to bass and vocals with Elf?

 

[ryco]

Very pretty. A bit of everything going on = rock fusion, jazz, and classical. But labels be danged - beautiful piece of music.

 

[lermgalieu]

If he takes that large a band on the road, I can’t imagine it even breaking even.

He gets a decent tone on the horn but if I was listening to it not knowing who it was, I wouldn’t be impressed. I’m glad he’s in a position to be able to do it, though.

I think your implied correlation of making money and artistic value problematic. Yes, even tho it’s flea.

 

[James Simonson]

I thought it was great to see Flea be a little more serious about his presentation. I also think it was a brave move to move away from the Chili Peppers and be an independent artist. The people responded positively. People are currently in the mood for “warts and all” music.. very un AI. On these points alone, I thought it was an interesting shift in pop culture

 

[brianrost]

I think your implied correlation of making money and artistic value problematic. Yes, even tho it’s flea.

No implied correlation at all. Just that it costs money to take that large an ensemble on the road and Flea as a solo artist is not as big a draw as RHCP.

Artistically, I like it more than RHCP actually and would be inclined to go see that band. I’m going to check out his earlier solo album Helen Burns.

Solo acts from huge bands don’t draw as well. I was in the opening band twice for Robert Plant shows in Boston and NYC. He was playing in sold-out theaters, not at sold-out arenas like LZ.

 

[lermgalieu]

No implied correlation at all. Just that it costs money to take that large an ensemble on the road and Flea as a solo artist is not as big a draw as RHCP.

Artistically, I like it more than RHCP actually and would be inclined to go see that band. I’m going to check out his earlier solo album Helen Burns.

Solo acts from huge bands don’t draw as well. I was in the opening band twice for Robert Plant shows in Boston and NYC. He was playing in sold-out theaters, not at sold-out arenas like LZ.

Ok, it just seemed an odd lead in. It’s not the first thing I think about when considering whether or not I like music.

 

[WG Plum]

It's out and it's great. Not groundbreaking in any way, but lovely. I'm happy for Flea, it's something he should be proud of.

 

[Guitalia]

Trumpet is flat. But GREAT to hear him working the horn - digging the sensibility and intentions...

I wasn't sure whether his flatting here and there was a problem with the trumpet or with his playing or was intentional. Reminded me a bit of one of my favorite big band performances from the '30s, where the trumpet pitch was apparently intentionally iffy here and there.

(A friend who was an art teacher in a high school in the early '70's mentioned to me that the music teacher was an ex-big band player and offered to relay a question from me. I said, "Ask him about Bunny Berrigan." The answer came back: "Never saw him sober.")

 

[Joebone]

I wasn't sure whether his flatting here and there was a problem with the trumpet or with his playing or was intentional. Reminded me a bit of one of my favorite big band performances from the '30s, where the trumpet pitch was apparently intentionally iffy here and there.

(A friend who was an art teacher in a high school in the early '70's mentioned to me that the music teacher was an ex-big band player and offered to relay a question from me. I said, "Ask him about Bunny Berrigan." The answer came back: "Never saw him sober.")

One good Bunny Berrigan track deserves another, on trumpet and vocal. Yea, pitch manipulation is definitely an expressive tool, but no pitch instability on this one! Reportedly Louis Armstrong wouldn't do this song because "that's Bunny's tune..."

 

[andare]

Happy he's doing what he loves but the out of key trumpet is killing me

The bass sounds flat too but what bothers me about it is the tone. I don't like the tone of a Jazz bass in general but especially when soloed. In this song it's too snappy. Pino's fretless Stingray tone would've been more lyrical. Or a neck single coil in a semi-hollow bass.

 

[Les Fret]

No implied correlation at all. Just that it costs money to take that large an ensemble on the road and Flea as a solo artist is not as big a draw as RHCP.

Don't think Flea has money problems any time soon!

I like most of the album. On the album the trumpet is ok. But in the live clips I have seen it sounds insecure and fragile and not up to par with the rest of the music. But I like that he is doing something different than the RHCP. But still I think most people expect him to do something more groove based. In my opinion that's also the best and most natural side of Flea. But I appreciate that he still wants to grow musically and doesn't take the easy way.