Music is a very important element in the Cowboy Bebop anime and movie. The music in Cowboy Bebop was composed by Yoko Kanno with The Seatbelts, a blues and jazz band. Together they produced seven albums and one live DVD.

Their style is very diverse and ranges from straightforward big band jazz, blues, acoustic ballads, hard rock, country, funk to electronic, hip-hop and experimental compositions/elements. Most of the songs are instrumental and play as background music within the show.

Yoko KannoEdit

Main article: Yoko Kanno

Yoko Kanno (born March 19, 1964 in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan) is a composer, arranger and musician best known for her work on the soundtracks for many anime TV series and films including Cowboy Bebop.

The SeatbeltsEdit

The Seatbelts were a Japanese blues/jazz band led by composer and instrumentalist Yoko Kanno. The name of the band, according to the fictional description given in the anime series Cowboy Bebop, derives from how the performers wear seat belts to be safe while they play hardcore jam sessions.^{[citation needed]}

Many of the members of The Seatbelts have also worked with Kanno and with each other on other projects as well, and some have even gone on to compose their own work. For example, guitarist Tsuneo Imahori also played guitar on the soundtracks for Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Wolf's Rain (both of which were composed by Kanno), as well as composing the soundtracks for Trigun and Gungrave.

Japanese musiciansEdit

• Drums: Yasuo Sano, Akira Sotoyama
• Bass: Hitoshi Watanabe, Maki Kitada, Suzuki Bakabon
• Guitar: Tsuneo Imahori, Masayoshi Furukawa
• Percussion: Mataro Misawa, Ikuo Kakehashi, Yoichi Okabe
• Trumpet: Koji Nishimura, Koshio Araki, Yusuke Hayashi, Akio Terashima
• Trombone: Yoichi Murata, Satoshi Kawano, Hideaki Nakaji, Yoshiaka Hashimoto, Masanori Hirohara, Junko Yamashiro
• Saxophone: Masato Honda, Shigeo Fuchino, Masakuni Takeno, Takuo Yamamoto, Osamu Koike, Naruyoshi Kikuchi
• Flute: Hideyo Takakuwa, Kazuhiro Iwasa, Mika Hayashi
• Tuba: Kiyoshi Sato
• Harmonica: Nubuo Yagi, Ryuichiro Senoo
• Strings: Masatsugu Shinozaki
• Synthesizer: Keishi Urata
• Producer/Composer/Arranger/Keyboards/Noises/Voices/Mood Setting: Yoko Kanno
• Recording & mixing: Masashi Yabuhara

New York MusiciansEdit

• Drums: Al Foster, Bobby Previte, Bill Stewart
• Guitar: Peter Bernstein
• Piano: Mark Soskin, George Colligan
• Bass: Stanley Clarke, Scott Colley
• Percussion: Daniel Sadownick
• Trumpet: Nicholas Payton
• Trombone: Josh Roseman
• Soprano Saxophone: Steve Wilson
• Alto Saxophone and Flute: Gary Bartz
• Tenor Saxophone and Bass Clarinet: Chris Potter
• Tenor Saxophone: Joshua Redman
• Baritone Saxophone: James Carter
• Tuba: Bill Barber
• Harmonica: Chris Michalek
• Chorus: Paule McWilliams, Nicki Richards, Sharon Bryant-Gallwey, Lisa Fischer
• Recording & Mixing: Rudy Van Gelder

Paris MusiciansEdit

• Guitar: Pierre Bensusan
• Percussion and Voices: Sydney Thiam, Michel Reman, David Mirandon, Philippe Drai, Phillipe Nalry, Thierry Boucou
• Recording & Mixing: Dupouy Christophe

Oslo MusiciansEdit

• Tenor Saxophone: Jan Garbarek
• Keyboards and Synthesizers: Rainer Brüninghaus
• Guitar: Terje Rypdal
• Bass: Eberhard Weber
• Drums and Percussion: Jon Christensen, Marilyn Mazur
• Woodwinds and Voices: Bjorn Svetnam, Karin Krog, Peder Friis, Mari Boine, Edvard Kempler, Lars Ektor
• Recording & Mixing: Manfred Eicher

==Guest Vocalists

• Carla Vallet
• Tim Jensen
• Mai Yamane
• Steve Conte
• Masaaki Endoh
• Gabriela Robin
• Masayoshi Furukawa
• Tulivu-Donna Cumberbatch
• SYDNEY with Sister R
• Emily Bindiger
• Jerzy Knetig
• Aoi Tada
• Raj Ramayya
• Hassan Bohmide
• Scott Matthew
• Reynada Hill

DiscographyEdit

Studio recordingsEdit

1. Cowboy Bebop (1998)
2. Cowboy Bebop Vitaminless (1998)
3. Cowboy Bebop No Disc (1998)
4. Cowboy Bebop Blue (1999)
5. Ask DNA (2001)
6. Future Blues (2001)
7. Cowboy Bebop Tank! THE! BEST! (2004)

Live recordingsEdit

1. Future Blues DVD

MiscellaneousEdit

1. Cowboy Bebop Remixes: Music for Freelance (1999)
2. Cowgirl Ed (2001)
3. Cowboy Bebop Boxed Set (2002)