JQ Magazine: Concert Review – Yoko Kanno, Logan Richardson Jam ‘Cowboy Bebop’ Classics in NYC

By JQ magazine editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02). Justin has written about Japanese arts and entertainment for JETAA since 2005. For more of his articles, click here. 

Photos by Anthony Mulcahy.

On March 29, the Town Hall of New York became a community united in decades of song as a world-renowned anime composer made her NYC debut with Yoko Kanno Live!, her first U.S. concert since a 2013 solo piano gig at Otakon in Baltimore.

For this special performance–the seeds of which were planted when Kanno made a surprise appearance at 2023’s Cowboy Bebop 25th Anniversary Concert - The Music, also at Town Hall–the cultural icon was paired with two dozen musicians led by saxophonist, composer and bandleader Logan Richardson and the Blues People Big Band.

Town Hall artistic director Melay Araya kicked off the evening with a shoutout to the capacity crowd of space cowboys in the house, noting that Kanno was joining Bob Dylan, Nina Simone and Whitney Houston in the honor of making their New York concert hall debuts at Town Hall.

With the first half of the show dedicated to Cowboy Bebop, Richardson and his 16-piece big band started with jazzy small-combo pieces like “COSMOS,” “Odd Ones” and “Slipper Sleaze.” Introducing Kanno to the stage, Richardson remarked what an honor it was to rehearse and share a stage with such a legendary and exuberant figure. The two shared a special chemistry, with the deadpan, mostly seated Kansas City native providing a contrast to the bouncy, crimson-clad Kanno, who literally covered every inch of the stage conducting the various members of the orchestra from song to song.

A pair of vocal numbers brought out additional guest vocalists, reprising their original contributions to recordings made more than two decades ago. Australia’s Scott Matthew delivered the goods on “lithium flower” from Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, while Utica’s own Steve Conte provided vocals, acoustic guitar and rock star swagger on “Could You Bite the Hand?” from Wolf’s Rain.

Vocal number “CALL ME CALL ME” from Bebop’s original series gave way to “Waltz in High Socks,” a selection from the 2021 live-action Netflix adaptation that enjoyed a lively workout from the eight-piece string ensemble Little Kruta. This surprise tune was followed by the pair of “High Heel Runaway” and “Go Dark” from 2007’s Darker than Black.

Bringing things back to the realm of lively, effervescent big band jazz, the audience was treated to Cowboy Bebop’s “RUSH” and theme tune “TANK!,” an anime standard that could be considered the gateway soundtrack to fandom for many (indeed, the spoken intro of “three, two, one, let's jam!” was deafeningly reproduced by the audience without any prompting).

How to follow that? Tradeoff can-you-top-this vocals from both Matthew and Conte on “Gotta knock a little harder,” the theme from 2001’s Cowboy Bebop: The Movie. This gospel-flavored gem, likely inspired by Parliament's "Come In Out of the Rain," had the crowd on their feet.

The encores were the definition of spontaneous, as Kanno took the piano for Wolf’s Rain’s “Paradiso,” followed by some four-handed piano gracing Cowboy Bebop’s “Green Bird + Piano Bar I.” A total surprise (not on the printed setlist) that brought the evening to a close was the world music anthem “Space Lion,” in which Kanno ably conducted the entire audience in multi-part harmony. Now in her sixties, her enthusiasm of being with an American crowd that grew up on her music in the early 2000s thanks to Cowboy Bebop’s heavy rotation on Adult Swim was nothing short of electric.

Credit must be given to Araya and her team at Town Hall, which in recent years has become the venue of choice for anime and game music orchestral performances like Final Fantasy, Stardew Valley and Shovel Knight. Even more remarkable: the audience diligently followed the “no phones, no photos” rule of the evening, joining together as one for an unforgettable live experience. This deep appreciation of the continuum of musical history through new voices and media speaks to the progressiveness of the 100-years-plus Town Hall. For those in attendance that special night, there is nothing but excitement for what the future holds.

For the complete setlist, click here. For more JQ articles, click here.