THE SEATBELTS — Cowboy Bebop (review)

THE SEATBELTS — Cowboy Bebop album cover Album · 1998 · Jazz Related Soundtracks Buy this album from MMA partners
5/5 ·
dreadpirateroberts
Hands down the best soundtrack to any animated series - but more importantly, what's it actually sound like?

Well, for my money 'progressive big band' is the perfect genre for this album. The pieces range from hard bop to Latin-influenced jazz to spacey sax ballads or bittersweet, sparsely accompanied pieces like 'Waltz for Zizi.'

Composer and pianist Yoko Kanno has brought together a sharp band in the Seatbelts and they hit hard with thunderous opener 'Tank!' - a charging blast of hard bop but with that Latin touch via the percussion bringing it something extra. A scorching alto solo from Masato Honda tops everything off too.

There's a good dose of stylistic variation on the album (though not as much as with their other releases) and it should keep fans of big band and hard bop interested from start to finish.

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