What style of music is Tank?

Chaos Angel · Post by **Chaos Angel** » Wed Jul 10, 2002 10:41 pm

I know, or am pretty damn sure anyway, that it's jazz, but I have no idea what style of jazz it is, and I'd like to look up some similar stuff.

Any recommendations on songs/artists that sound similar to Tank, Want It All Back, Blue, Real Folk Blues, etc.?

FirestormXIII · Post by **FirestormXIII** » Wed Jul 10, 2002 11:21 pm

Oh yea, it's jazz all right. It's kind of hard to say what style it's in though. It sounds like old school big band with a swinging bebop (no pun intended) feel. Real folk blues sounds like a driving fusion (jazz/rock/blues) ballad to me, mostly because of the dominance of the electric guitar through much of the instrumental lines.

As for reccomendations...I'd say listen to some of the Buddy Rich band for the big band feel. A lot of his stuff is comparable to 'Tank!' In particular you should listen to 'Time Check', it's a bit more up tempo than 'Tank!' is, but it's a start. As for something comparable to Real Folk Blues? Well that's a little harder because the sound is so unique...but perhaps John Coltrane. 'After the Rain' reminds me a bit of 'Real Folk Blues', though of course without the vocals, and it's also straight jazz, rather than fusion. I know that Mile Davis did some fusion stuff, but i don't know if it might be comparable to Real Folk Blues.

Rozard · Post by **Rozard** » Thu Jul 11, 2002 12:26 am

If you go to EK's page, Big Big Truck, there's a page on her Cowboy Bebop page that lists the music that inspired the soundtrack to Cowboy Bebop.

FirestormXIII · Post by **FirestormXIII** » Thu Jul 11, 2002 5:43 am

Spiffy, I'm gonna have to check that out later...

rurouni_trelane · Post by **rurouni_trelane** » Fri Jul 12, 2002 9:31 am

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.)

jbone · Post by **jbone** » Fri Jul 12, 2002 9:56 am

rurouni_trelane wrote:Actually... the style of jazz that Tank and a large amount of the music from Cowboy Bebop, ironically, is called bebop.

It's not irony, it's coincidence.

Rozard · Post by **Rozard** » Fri Jul 12, 2002 12:49 pm

jbone wrote:
rurouni_trelane wrote:Actually... the style of jazz that Tank and a large amount of the music from Cowboy Bebop, ironically, is called bebop.
It's not irony, it's coincidence.

Nah, it's something else. It'd be a coincidence if the the creators of the show didn't know the music was bebop, where as I'm sure they knew that ahead of time. I think it's just somewhat of a play on words.

FirestormXIII · Post by **FirestormXIII** » Fri Jul 12, 2002 3:38 pm

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.

Chaos Angel · Post by **Chaos Angel** » Fri Jul 12, 2002 5:43 pm

Wow. Thanks for the suggestions/comments, everyone.

Schu no ko · Post by **Schu no ko** » Fri Jul 12, 2002 7:54 pm

Coming from a jazz background (My father is a professional jazz Saxophonist) it is a bebop style improvizational jazz piece (I used to play jazz myself and it sounds very similar to things I have played)

The Real Folk Blues is more R&B (Rhythm and Blues...it's REAL Rhythm and Blues. Not that fake Brandy shit) R&B is a form of Jazz that's a little more mellow, but there is still room for improvization. In jazz, you can always improvise (Jazz has an entirely different set of scales to memorize. That's why it's so hard.)

Fun fact: Jazz is the only true American art form.