Greetings and salutations Hivers. Today let's go into another Three Tune Tuesday post.

As always, thanks to @ablaze for making this series. Lots of people participate in it! Follow the tags to find a ton of good music recommendation.

Today I want to return to jazz. And I think I'm going to theme this jazz that is featured in anime. Jazz is a common enough style to put in the background of cartoons, and anime is no exception. This may have faded in the West a little, as jazz is not as popular as it was, but it still remains a common thing in Japan. Let's look at some.

Yuji Ohno - Lupin the 3rd

There is perhaps no more iconic jazz theme song in Japan than this one. Ohno wrote it I think for the second anime series in 1977. It quickly became beloved and now Ohno and his band perform different versions of the song pretty much annually. Here is the 2021 version. Some nice solos in this one, including a great electric guitar.

Yoko Kanno and The Seatbelts - Tank

I'm sure you've heard this before. I even included it in that Japanese jazz playlist I made a while ago. This might be the ultimate anime jazz song. Despite the series title, it's not bebop, it's more big band jazz with some fusion elements, including funk and blues. It is also awesome. Here is a version they did virtually during the pandemic. The sax solo here is out of the world. The dancing woman, by the way, is the composer, Yoko Kanno.

Naruyoshi Kikuchi - Rumble and Thunderbolt (from Gundam)

This one ironically has more elements of bebop than the former. This is a great ride with improvisational solos, complex chord progressions, and fast tempos. It ends way too soon, but it's a great ride while it lasts!

Bonus: Henry Mancini - The Pink Panther

Does this count? Well, kind of. Anime is just a short for for animation, which in Japan is used for all animation, including Western animation. And this song was used in the Pink Panther cartoons, so there we go.

This performance by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra is fantastic!

So what's your favorite?

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David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Twitter or Mastodon.