Mar 30, 2026 10:30 PM
Flea Finds His Jazz Thing
In the relatively small pantheon of certifiable rock stars venturing into the intersection of pop music and jazz, the…
Violinist Christian Howes will release Heartfelt, his debut on Resonance Records, on Sept. 9. The album is a collaboration between Howes and pianist-arranger Roger Kellaway, former musical director for Bobby Darin.
Howes’ musical career was interrupted in 1992 at the age of 20 when he was convicted of selling LSD to an undercover cop. Howes credits his time in prison as influential to his interest in blues and jazz, which have featured in his solo releases.
“Before, I had been pretty strictly into classical music,” said Howes, “But in prison, I was playing in gospel church services and that was the first time that I was really exposed to a kind of energy of soul and swing and blues and these kinds of ideas. That music made such a deep impression on me that it was then that I got this feeling of, ‘I should really be exploring this more on the violin.’”
The collaborations on Heartfelt include an orchestral arrangements of Russ Freeman’s “The Wind” and Eliane Elias’ “That’s All It Was,” as well as a rendition of Bill Evans’ “Walkin Up.”
“Cerebral and academic thought is a different way to approach music,” Flea says of his continuing dive into jazz. “I’ve always relied on emotion and intuition and physicality.”
Mar 30, 2026 10:30 PM
In the relatively small pantheon of certifiable rock stars venturing into the intersection of pop music and jazz, the…
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