By JQ magazine editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02). Justin has written about Japanese arts and entertainment for JETAA since 2005. For more of his articles, click here.
Photos by Anthony Mulcahy.
On March 29, the Town Hall of New York became a community united in decades of song as a world-renowned anime composer made her NYC debut with Yoko Kanno Live!, her first U.S. concert since a 2013 solo piano gig at Otakon in Baltimore.
For this special performance–the seeds of which were planted when Kanno made a surprise appearance at 2023’s Cowboy Bebop 25th Anniversary Concert – The Music, also at Town Hall–the cultural icon was paired with two dozen musicians led by saxophonist, composer and bandleader Logan Richardson and the Blues People Big Band.
Town Hall artistic director Melay Araya kicked off the evening with a shoutout to the capacity crowd of space cowboys in the house, noting that Kanno was joining Bob Dylan, Nina Simone and Whitney Houston in the honor of making their New York concert hall debuts at Town Hall.
With the first half of the show dedicated to Cowboy Bebop, Richardson and his 16-piece big band started with jazzy small-combo pieces like “COSMOS,” “Odd Ones” and “Slipper Sleaze.” Introducing Kanno to the stage, Richardson remarked what an honor it was to rehearse and share a stage with such a legendary and exuberant figure. The two shared a special chemistry, with the deadpan, mostly seated Kansas City native providing a contrast to the bouncy, crimson-clad Kanno, who literally covered every inch of the stage conducting the various members of the orchestra from song to song.
A pair of vocal numbers brought out additional guest vocalists, reprising their original contributions to recordings made more than two decades ago. Australia’s Scott Matthew delivered the goods on “lithium flower” from Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, while Utica’s own Steve Conte provided vocals, acoustic guitar and rock star swagger on “Could You Bite the Hand?” from Wolf’s Rain.
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