From now on, I will only be writing and performing Action Jazz and I am claiming it as a new genre and no one can stop me. (New Harmony 1010 course is 30% off- cornellmusicacademy.com/harmony )
Charles, check out the soundtrack to Big O. It's done by Toshihiko Sahashi, and includes a song called Rundown which is a hyperspeed piano run played in the show by an android (including discussion on why just playing all the notes fast is not the same as feeling the piece). Lots of jazz and mood in the soundtrack, plus the show was animated by the same studio that did the iconic original 90s Batman: TAS.
Kudos to the Manga writer for being able to visualize how Jazz could fit in the battle scenes and the story. The anime team and the musician translate it well from the page too. Incredible future war series. Enjoyed every second of it.
The piano solo on “I’m 60” is kinda nuts, especially the first chorus. I highly recommend giving it a listen if you haven’t (I’ve even transcribed some of it to play for myself because it’s so harmonically interesting).
The Gundam franchise usually has very good music playing in the background, because they put a lot of effort into everything! One of the reasons to why it’s my favourite franchise 😄 Char’s theme (Universal Century timeline) has also very catchy jazz!
This is one of my favorites animes and I'm so happy to see it get the attention it deserves! My personal favorite song would be the main theme, just the franticness, the solos and especially the drums create a really disturbing yet alluring piece.
The brilliance of Thunderbolt's soundtrack is how the two styles of tracks reflect the two lead characters. Io's music is chaotic and aggressive, reflecting how he wants to live fast and make as big of an impact on everyone as possible, and the thrill he gets from battle. Meanwhile, Daryl's music being much more melodic and warm reflects his nostalgia and longing for the life he had before the war. It's so simple on paper, but the craft on display in the execution is just masterful.
By having that midi at the bottom showing the chords. Your teaching me so much more about thia beautiful instrument. Thank you for indirectly being my teacher
Sento kaishi yo seems to make more sense to me if im counting 9/8, the second bar of "5/4" on the drums has an ending fill that doesnt feel right counting that way, cuts it short. Idk. Maybe just me.
Thanks for shinning light on one of my all time favorite Anime's - Gundam. Every new series never cease to impress me with their new wonder and creativity.
Hey Charles what a great video discussing the idea of free form music (in this case jazz) and how it affects the shows they are put in. I’d love to see you go over some of Kevin Penkins work, especially in tower of god, where he uses electric instruments to create a similar idea to this soundtrack
Check out the opening theme to Baccano!. The piece is called Guns and Roses, and is composed by a band called Paradise Lunch. I honestly think it's better than the opening theme to Cowboy Bebop "Tank!".
I am a huge Ms Gundam fan and MS thunderbolt is right up there with my top Gundam related stuff and you pretty much hit the nail on the head. Gundam is mostly about politics, you have two warring factions one is Zeon seeking independence for the inhabitants of the space colonies and the other is the Earth Federation government they control earth and refuse to let go of the control they have over the colonies but they are also corrupt to the bone. In the case of Thunderbolt it's very interesting because the line between who's the bad guy and who is the hero is very very thin. Io flemming from the federation is a nutcase, you can tell from the very beginning of the movie and by the way he pilots both the Gm he thrashes by running head's first into a beam and the Gundam later on, he's out for blood and ironically the remnants of the colony you see, all those buildings and stuff you see around them are in fact the remains of Side 4 Moore, the Colony he was born on and was destroyed during the war. On Zeon's side you have Daryl Lorenz who is part of the living dead division. A special forces Zeon uses to make experiments on soldiers to make better Mobile Suits, most them are amputees, at that point they are pretty much just trying to stay alive, and to keep his cool he listens to pop music most of the time so you have this dichotomy going on where flemming fuels his chaotic nature with all the crazy free form Jazz while Daryl is tries to keep it together. And it works so well, it's like you said Io even said it at the beginning and it makes perfect sense the Free form Jazz suits the battlefield because in a war you never know what you're going to expect it fits the chaos the unpredictability and of course, piloting a Gundam type mobile suit making a man feel like a God 🤣. Thanks for the video. 😁
If you're looking for more anime to analize, I'd suggest an old anime by the name of Azumanga Daioh. It doesn't have much of a soundtrack, but it has one of the weirdest songs as an intro, I'd love for you to tackle making sense of why it works either as a standalone or one of your compilation videos.
might as well check out Baccanoo for another action jazz there is also Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Hajime no Ippo and Samurai Champloo for another anime with synchronous music and action
Another anime with great jazz + overall soundtrack is Blood Blockade Battlefront, the music is on Spotify too! It has a captivating Big Band/swing feel but adds a futuristic take (fitting to the plot+setting). Surprisingly Black Butler has nice jazz OSTs, especially during the intermission scenes.
Yessss! one of my favorite show!,i like jazz because of my parent but this show give me a whole new reason to loving jazz much more, especially the free Jazz,Blues and Swing music,MSG Thunderbolt : the Fun in Chaos
Hajime no ippo, baccano, durarara, kekkai sensen, bakemonogatari, mushishi, made in abyss and darker than black. Anime's with interesting soundtracks. But you should check out the band Mouse On The Keys too, please and thank you.
If you're on an Anime + Jazz kick, this is the perfect opportunity to go check out the Hellsing OST - Raid and Ruins. It was the double album that turned me onto Jazz music outside what my parents listened to. It's also a deeply weird acid freakout fusion thing, that you would never associate with a show about vampire fights. World Without Logos, Fools Cross Over Nirvana...10/10
You should listen to the second series/season soundtrack, its more structured and less free jazz. Also, I don't know if you've listened to the Pokemon Colosseum/Gale of Darkness soundtracks, but it has a lot of jazz and ragtime influence. Its pretty goos.
A lot of people already have excellent recommendations, especially still on the Jazzy side, so i'll just recommend another Gundam series - Gundam Unicorn, with a soundtrack by Hiroyuki Sawano who sometimes signs as "SawanoHiroyuki[nZk]". Gundam Unicorn's OST is one of his masterpieces, particularly the main theme for the first movie "UNICORN", but all of his work is pretty stellar, from Guilty Crown, to Kill la Kill, Attack on Titan, Aldnoah.Zero, Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress, EIghty Six... the man does NOT stop, and the quality does NOT drop.
Charles! Outside of the anime realm (kinda, 1 song inspired a whole anime and was used as the opening credit song), listen to the "Ai no Poltergheist Sounds of Kojima Mayumi" album. You'll love it!
Weird and odd suggestion but have you listened to jazz rap? An example would be try again by wit and smitt. I know you might not see this but if you did I suggest you and some others look it up and have fun.
Jazz in japanese media lately has been pretty good, I missed this gundam series, might have to catch that...but you should check out the Persona 5 music.
Hey Charles I've watched a few videos and I really enjoy them all. Seeing the how to train your dragon video got me thinking about themes. Could you analyse the man from snowy River? Might not end up as a video but it's always been special to me and (if you haven't seen it already) I hope you think so too.
Eh, I haven't actually seen that anime. But, the scenes you showed didn't seem like they really work in those scenes. In terms of anime Jazzy music. I do really like cowboy bebop's music. And it really meshes well with the fight scenes. I do like those songs though.
Fun fact there's a band in my school vr game called the federation zero ( zeon and the federation made a fucking band ) and fyi rebake goalius was told by callie Callie from Splatoon to investigate and the band was a saxophonist zaku a drummer GM a trumpet zaku 3 and a massive violin GM 3 and goalius returned to the band to just kill them and it lead to goalius dropping a cracker grenade into the saxaphone and trumpet the GM 3 accidentally took out it drummer GM friend with the massive violin and goalius opened the curtains and he went invisible shocking everyone and federation zero was then tooken out and over and rated so bad that baby's crying is better then that hunk of junk and crap
What is even more badass is that the Jazz he is playing in his cockpit can be heard by everyone friends and foe alike through some radio frequency, so it started having a big psychological impact on the battlefield. There is a scene where pilots on the opposite side were doing a briefing session after one of their squadron got mysteriously wiped out. When they reviewed the video datas on one of the black boxes, all they could hear was Jazz playing in the background while they comrades were being shot down one by one. That's how they knew who just attacked them.
My fencing coach would ask me to listen to free form jazz, because he theorized that the unorthodox beats and melody would help me be more reactive to changes in my opponent’s tempo. I think this is why jazz works so well in a combat setting. It’s two Individuals trading blows back and forth. Also this show helped get me in to jazz and anime. Super happy you are highlighting it!!!
I grew up on martial arts and the similarities between improvization and sparring are endless. Classical instrumentation is inherently tied in with warfare and combat itself, not to mention that fighting is literally just a subset of dance if you are willing to look at it as such.
Reminds me of a joke that goes something like: “Who would win in a fight, a buff nerd, or a jock who listens to jazz?” There’s more to it, but I can’t remember it.
That is actually exactly fits to the character in the show who listens to free form jazz as he is almost entirely unpredictable and sporadic in their movements.
Here's the list of musicians featured on the album Sax-Umezu Kazutoki Trombone-Yoichi Murata Piano-Onishi Junko Bass-Toshihisa Nagami Drums-Hattori Masatsugu Junko Onishi is a very famous jazz pianist in Japan. I am not too familiar with the rest of the band, but looking at their profile, they are some of the best musicians in Japan's free jazz scene. The soundtrack also feature "dCprG", an avant garde big band lead by Kikuchi and is highly influenced by Miles' Davis' electronic period. As far as I can tell from the Japanese article, the piano track was indeed overdubbed on "Chromatic Universe"
Jazz is alive and well by being the adopted child to the Japanese. Man the amount of love for Jazz here in Japan is truly heartwarming. It’s alive, more alive than in the US.
Junko Onishi is a real legend, I can't believe I'm just hearing of her. Here's a clip of her playing with Kenny Garrett in '91. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-K060F3bRXKg.html
Naruyoshi Kikuchi was also one of the main saxophone players on the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack. There's also an amazing song he did with the band Quasimode called Cosmic Eyes (which I uploaded since it's not on streaming outside of Japan). Some of his soloing on that song sounds straight out of Cowboy Bebop as well haha
So one thing I love about Thunderbolt is that Io uses his Jazz to stay alert while flying at insane speeds through the debris field while Daryl, the sniper, uses the relaxing music to tune out his distractions and focus on his target.
Exactly. I've watched most of the Gundam series, certainly all of the UC, and this show blew me away in it's portrayal. It's not an easy watch though, this is defiantly the most R, M, or 18+ anime of the franchise. Gundam has never turned away from the effects of war on the mind, but this one takes it to another level.
@@lelandvaughan4429 I would say Victory & IBO are darker in that the ones suffering the most are children/innocents but Thunderbolt is definitely up there in the war crimes, "this isn't what I signed up for", and literally threatening people with family being political prisoners.
@@DeamonChocobo Oh IBO definitely is pretty heart-rending and I haven't seen Victory (trouble finding it), but it's the casual brutality of Thunderbolt that gets me. Really feels like a War movie more than any other Gundam series I've seen.
@@nekomancer4641 floating debris, minvosky particles, space battleships, rick dom snipers and then this guy blasting jazz on the radio while flying in a mobile suit in space. Things couldn't get more hectic than this!
Mecha in general is pretty overlooked nowadays tbh. Can't really fault the current state of the industry though lmao, mecha pretty much was what most mfs in japan would've watched in the 80s lol
Season 3 was delayed, it's adapted from a manga and the writer for it fell ill part way through what would be adapted for season 3. I believe they've returned to writing again and reaching the end of Thunderbolt now so it depends on what that part of the studio is working on (which is possibly the Hathaway movie trilogy so could delay it until those are finished).
I'm so glad Charles took a closer look at the Gundam Thunderbolt soundtrack after diving a little bit into Groovy Duel a while back. Thunderbolt is so fuuuuuuckin good and I'm glad it's getting more recognition :)
Went to a concert for thunderbolt. The piano and the drums go super hard live. Watching the pianist and drummer going back and forth and watching them both having an absolute blast is an experience I won’t forget
this anime's soundtrack can only be explained as "freeform jazz" it's so strange but the entire plot of the show is like pop vs jazz, and guess who won?
You can listen this kind of jazz from the likes of artists such as Tigran Hamasyan, Ari Hoenig, Avishai Cohen, Eldar Djangirov etc. Fans generally refer it as post-bop most the time anyway.
@@RobinsMusic I can understand where you're coming from, at least a little, though I have a feeling that I like it much more than you do. I can enjoy up to a certain level of free form jazz, I don't mind at all if a song isn't melodic per se, but is it asking to much for it to at least be linear? Improv all you like, But I would enjoy it a lot more If the transitions and interplay were a bit less jarring. that said the individual musicians are truly amazing amazing at what they do, i just wish they were about 20% more in sync.
Gundam Thunderbolt’s mix of chaotic jazz and fighting made me actually appreciate jazz for what it is. Chaotic, and I love. I listen to a lot now a days. Oh god I’m alone, is my absolute favorite out of the soundtrack. But only by a bit.
The Bleach soundtrack is definitely another interesting one. You wouldn't really expect latin jazz and flamenco playing during a swordfight. Escalon and Distancia para un duelo are my two personal favourites but the entire OST3 is filled to the brim with awesome music.
@@HenSt-gz7qj It's kinda sad that a lot of shows don't get this: you can have the most awesome jaw-dropping visuals, but if the music isn't up to par the moment becomes lesser. It's especially the case in Western media where it's common for people to think that background music should just be background music, and while that can work for certain scenes there should be times where the music rises to the occasion and gives the scene the emphasis it deserves. Instead a lot of times you just hear the same generic, forgettable music that doesn't seem to do anything but just be... there.
True, and each era of the franchise has a different feel. As far as the classic early stuff goes, I’m really fond of Shigeaki Saegusa’s work on Zeta, ZZ, and Char’s Counterattack.
He just turned Jazz into a psychological weapon. When the other pilots hear the music in their piles of junk, they know It's comming and they can't do nothing about it. Gundam Thunderbolt is brilliant.
In terms of the performers and finding out more information about them, VGMDB has basically every video game and anime soundtrack catalogued and they're usually very thorough with it. For instance, I just checked the page for the OST and it says the bass clarinettist from Shutsugeki-you was one Mr. Kazutoki Umezu, and you can even click on his name under the credits at the top to see what else he's done (apparently he composed the soundtrack to Wild7, performed clarinet & bass clarinet on the ARIA soundtrack, etc.).
If your looking for more Gundam, I recommend Gundam Unicorn's OST composed by Sawano Hiroyuki. Real epic orchestral stuff. He also did the OST for Attack on Titan. Hope you do a video on him some day
Yes Sunrise knows how to make epic Hollywood style music that Hollywood seems to have somehow forgotten. They just slap some pop artist’s performance and call it a day. I like composed epic music like in Pacific Rim and Inception in my Hollywood movies.
Another anime's music you might find interesting is an old one, Samurai Champloo (I know, the opening is definitely not jazz, but a lot of the songs found in the ost are heavily jazz influenced.) Great anime too. I love this analysis series you're doing, I hope you keep it up.
It really has to be pinned. Samurai Champloo started the whole LoFi thing. Also regarding Anime, He clearly has to check out Hiroyuki Sawano, who did Soundtracks for Guilty Crown, Cabaneri of the Iron Fortress, i dont know which Gundam and most famously Attack on Titan
I think In the MANY gundam series’ this one is in the more war drama area. So a chaotic soundtrack that’s unfamiliar and scary sets a great tone for this fast, life or death story.
@@TheHKZero Even then though, they do tend to mix up musical styles a lot in Gundam. Like G Gundam is mainly orchestral, but can still have jazz influences in there.
Gundam Thunderbolt combines the best elements from Gundam. The Universal Century, High Blood Pressure action and visuals, compelling and conflicting morals, and FANTASTIC MUSIC COMPOSITION. Edit: Universal Century is best Century in Gundam.
When I saw "jazz anime," i was immediately like "is this guy talking about Thunderbolt?" This was a DEEP pull, cool to see people talking about this show again
Dude thunderbolt was insane and the soundtrack just took it to that next level. Was painful how long it took each episode to come out but now it’s a constant recommendation to people .
Don't forget bossa nova ;) (Galdin Quay, Costa Del Sol, New Wave Bossa Nova) - I think bands like The Consouls are bringing jazz genres more into the mainstream via VGM and I have had the pleasure of seeing them live. VGM and anime may be quietly revolutionising our musical palettes....(dare I say for the better!)
Trigun might have some interesting tracks to talk about. It’s got rock, and jazz, an’ simple old western sounding tracks. And also weird dissonant tracks with static. Quite the mix, but I guess the show does cover several genres of storytelling.
If you like the concept or "dueling instruments", check out the Groovy Duel scene from the second season where Io and Bianca play the song of the same name.
In 2013 Code Geass: Akito of the Exiled(a spinoff of the Code Geass Lelouch of the Rebellion) had some free jazz tracks, one was used for the trailer and the anime community was MAD about the music lmao.
I found out about this show about 6 years after my first child was born, who I named Io Flemming lol. Really neat and I love the music in this. But I can't find a way to stream it anywhere? Any tips?
Life-long musician and Gundam fan. Thunderbolt was such a breath of fresh air in so many ways. The pacing, the characters, the animation, and that soundtrack! GOD, that soundtrack! Long time trumpet player and bass player, and I never thought I'd hear THAT in a mecha series. Had a great time watching this, and seeing Thunderbolt get a wider audience outside of anime/mecha enthusiasts.
