This Anime Has INSANE Jazz When You Least Expect It

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[eosborne]

“The trumpet’s doing the thing with the guns and the stuff” is exactly the kind of smart musical analysis I come here for.

[hikari]

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.

[stretch_armstrong]

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!!!

[DeamonChocobo]

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.

[justynwclark]

Gundam Thunderbolt is criminally underrated. I’ve been waiting for season 3 for a couple of years now.

[sweetoldetc]

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"

[TheBlueGoldenHawk]

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

[kuni]

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

[mistuhbear]

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 good and I'm glad it's getting more recognition :)

[capioxy]

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.

[lidianane]

When you feel like the piece sounds bad, but at the same time really good, you know you created some tremendous Jazz.

[wavesky]

I adore how the machinery noises of the mobile suit parts clanging together kinda acts as percussion instruments that complement the soundtrack.

[acereporter]

First time I watched Thunderbolt, I went, *"What in the Cowboy Bebop is going on?"*

Loved how they worked the jazz into the series.

[MemowMedia]

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.

[CrepeyCruller]

I am a lifelong gundam fan and Thunderbolt is an artistic gem. Big robots, war crimes, and jazz. Doesn't get better than that.

[cass_dray]

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

[Atang]

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?

[marshw]

NO WAY THIS VIDEO ACTUALY EXISTS OH MY GOD!!! I never thought in a million years I’d get to see you cover Gundam Thunderbolt and I’m SO HAPPY

[Vairrion]

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 .

[penguindrum]

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.