rurouni_trelane wrote:Actually... the style of jazz that Tank and a large amount of the music from Cowboy Bebop, ironically, is called bebop. To put it simply, it's a style of jazz charachterized by fast moving improvisation that can't really be danced to.
Real Folk Blues isn't *technically* jazz, since it has no improvisation. It's not even really blues because it doesn't follow any of the blues patterns. It's basically just a slow rock song with jazz-style brass laced over it.
(I guess Music History class is good for something, after all.)
A lot of the music you hear playing during episodes of CB are indeed in the style of Bebop, but some of the songs Chaos mentioned (like Tank) fall into a mix of styles. I say this because Bebop is usually characterized by small(er) groups of musicians and, unless my memory fails me, the group playing tank isn't that small. I haven't listened to the song in a while though, so I could be wrong.
As for Real Folk Blues, I think it's jazz, only because improvisation is not a requirement for all jazz songs. Perhaps certain pieces improvise after a fashion (guitar, drums, piano), but a solo isn't truly necessary for it to be considered jazz. I agree with your assessment that it isn't really blues though. So really it's a Fusion ballad. <shrug>
Interesting music to analyze all around, though.