The Seatbelts is a Japanese blues/jazz band lead by composer and instrumentist Yoko Kanno.
The band performed the whole soundtrack of the anime series Cowboy Bebop and produced a total of six albums and one live DVD. Their style is very diversified and ranges from a straightforward big band jazz to more refined rock 'n roll ballads.
Being essentially more focused on instrumental work, The Seatbelts have no lead singer, so to speak. But Steve Conte (from The Contes and Crown Jewels ) and Mai Yamane participate in many of their songs doing the vocal parts. The lyrics of these songs are written mainly by Tim Jensen and Yoko Kanno herself. Singers Soichiro Otsuka and Gabriela Robin are responsible for the back vocals on songs such as "Blue".
After a few years in hibernation, The Seatbelts have regrouped in the year of 2004 to compose the soundtrack of the Cowboy Bebop game, scheduled for a 2005 release.
Musicians of The Seatbelts
- Drums - Yasuo Sano, Akira Sotoyama
- Bass - Hitoshi Wantanabe, Maki Kitada, Suzuki Bakabon
- Guitar - Tsuneo Imahori, Masayoshi Furukawa
- Percussion - Mataro Misawa, Ikuo Kakehashi, Yoichi Okabe
- Trumpet - Koshi Nishimura, Koshio Araki, Yusuke Hayashi, Akio Terashima
- Trombone - Y. Murata, S. Kawano, H. Nakaji, Y. Hashimoto, M. Hirohara, J. Yamashiro
- Saxophone - M. Honda, S. Fuchino, M. Takeno, T. Yamamoto, O. Koike, N. Kikuchi
- Flute - Hideyo Takakuwa, Kazuhiro Iwasa, Mika Hayashi
- Tuba - Kiyoshi Sato
- Harmonica - Nubuo Yagi, Ryuichiro Senoo
- Strings - Masatsugu Shinozaki
- Synthesizer - Keishi Urata
- Voice - Steve Conte, Mai Yamane, Tim Jensen
- Composer/Arranger/Keyboards - Yoko Kanno
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