They feel fresh and authentic, bringing to life the fluid, hyper-real movement that Bebop is recognised for. The sounds were recorded live, in one or few takes. Kanno’s soundtrack forgoes the exact bebop aesthetic, but retains that sense of spontaneity the genre is known for. The work which becomes a new genre itself will be called Cowboy Bebop.” Midway through every episode, a tableaux simply reminds us: “They must create new things by breaking traditional styles. Instead, it’s presented as a ‘gateway’ anime for a fresh fanbase, blending various aspects of western pop culture with both the serious and absurd – sometimes all at once. It positions itself away from the serious works of the decade, like Hideaki Anno’s Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995-6) and Revolutionary Girl Utena (1997). “I chose to create such music believing that people’s emotions in their everyday life would be the same in the future, even in outer space” – Yoko KannoĬowboy Bebop takes a similarly radical approach – it’s almost impossible to pin down in the anime universe. The sound, Atkins explains, displaced dance halls, “and (gave) birth to swanky coffeehouses and after-hours dives for which there had been few or any pre-war precedents.”
He notes bebop’s disruptive status “as ‘art music’ for a more intellectual art audience”, and explores its impact on youth culture. Taylor Atkins describes the role of bebop in the history of Japanese jazz post-war. Cowboy Bebop’s characters are like those musicians: they are free, and I want them to act in an improvisatory way.” They wanted to express themselves freely and started to improvise a lot. As Watanabe explains in Rose Bridges’ Yoko Kanno’s Cowboy Bebop Soundtrack: “In bebop, players threw away the score and played freely. Episodes are literally referred to as sessions – as in, jazz sessions – and feature genre-fitting names like “Asteroid Blues” and “Cowboy Funk”. The improvisatory, laidback spirit of jazz – or more precisely bebop, the 1940s strain of jazz characterised by its high tempo and complex chords – pervades every aspect of the show: Spike’s motto is “whatever happens, happens”, of course. Can you make it work?’ My answer back then was, ‘I think I can, but I don’t think it will sell.’ I’m glad that my prediction has been proven wrong.”
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“He asked me, ‘I want to make this series ( Cowboy Bebop) jazz-oriented. “I first met Watanabe while working on Macross Plus,” Kanno tells me, referencing the director’s 1995 mini-series about an interplanetary feud between friends.
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The music feels free and improvised, just like adventuring through space on an interstellar ship. It’s a bonanza of sound that pushes at the boundaries of anime scores – from the samba-inspired opening theme “Tank!” (3, 2, 1, let’s jam) to high-octane ballad “The Real Folk Blues” over the end credits. The score was composed by Yoko Kanno, the mastermind behind Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and The Vision of Escaflowne, and performed by The Seatbelts, a group of musicians that Kanno put together for the purpose of the show.
Elements of country, blues, and funk orbit, in planetary fashion, around a recurrent jazz line, serving as a bombastic backdrop for high-speed chases, galactic feuds, and corrupt government plots. Like the show itself, the soundtrack moves seamlessly through genres. Its soundtrack has remained one of the most ambitious and celebrated original anime scores ever made. The series, about the lives of space cowboy Spike Spiegel and his intrepid band of misfit bounty hunters, is a jazzy romp through the cosmos, combining elements of space opera, spaghetti western, film noir, and kung fu flick, to magical effect. Ever since the words “ 1, 2, 3… Let’s Jam!” first flashed onto screens, Shinichirō Watanabe’s 1998 hit show Cowboy Bebop has enraptured audiences a world over.