The Cowboy Bebop Band weeknight sellout at Hero’s Welcome
Steven Zhu’s band with Gordy Li, RJ Abella, Afu Keteca, Rick Son, Patrick Kao, & Piyotr Kao
Last night at Hero's Welcome, I heard drummer Steven Zhu's Cowboy Bebop Bebop Band (with two bebops). I sat among a large group of show-goers who had never been to a Vancouver jazz show. They mentioned seeing Instagram ads, getting intrigued by the prospect of hearing well-loved music from the anime Cowboy Bebop being played live, and deciding to buy tickets. That's how this Infidels Jazz show sold out faster than any other date in the Tim Reinert venture's history.
Cowboy Bebop needs no introduction to most who are younger than me and is a sort of late-90s anime Star Wars. Its music is popular enough in subcultures that my high school friends wrote a big band arrangement of "Tank!" – the anime's opening theme, and the first number that the band played last night – and brought it in, asking the band teacher if we could play it. We did, of course.
The seven-piece Cowboy Bebop Bebop Band's first outing had been at Tyrant Studios less than two months ago, on March 30th. Back then, Steven's lineup was mostly the same: Gordy Li on B-flat saxophones, Afu Keteca on bari sax, Patrick Kao on guitar, and Piyotr Kao on upright and electric bass. Last night, Rick Son played the house upright piano and a keyboard; Justin Juan, as he mentioned on the podcast, had filled the chair at Tyrant. (RJ Abella on trumpet played last night instead of Nikolaj Hansen at Tyrant.)
Gordy played both tenor and soprano saxophones, and later on the mellower tune "Cats on Mars" also a synth that he picked up and played like a keytar. (Steven told me after the show that he didn't know Gordy was going to pick it up like that.) Gordy combined cold focus, where he stood still and blew legions of eighth notes with great facility, with a sense of humour that betrays high confidence. "That's not the song," he spoke out loud after he played "Someday My Prince Will Come" for a few bars before the actual melody of "Space Lion", a reverb-filled piece he co-led with Rick's keyboard.
Rick, who has an After Dark show of his own next weekend on Friday, May 31, was arguably the star soloist of the show. He played Bud Powell-inspired lines on the upright piano for "Odd Ones", which Steven introduced as "actually a bebop tune now". On "Road to the West", his keyboard and Gordy's soprano again connected, this time for a freer expedition together. Not only did we get people saying, "Is it your first time at a jazz show too?" to each other, we got them to enjoy some improv with us.
Afu and RJ were the lower-key soloists. Their presence came through in the ensemble parts of each number, leaving Gordy more solo time. That said, Afu had a bari-with-drums feature to open the funky "Too Good Too Bad" RJ had an energetic trumpet solo on the last number "Ask DNA".
About that rowdy last number: Tyrant Studios manager Daniel Deorksen got up as a guest vocalist, and he even provided a scat solo. The vocal performance matched what I knew of Dan's original songs from having played with him a few times. He had no fear, he came to entertain, and he achieved the mission.
Patrick on guitar and Piyotr on bass also turned in team-player performances. Patrick's guitar tone stayed in the rock sphere – no getting clean – as he both strummed and shredded his way capably through the parts alongside Rick's piano chording. Piyotr started on upright bass for "Tank!" but ended up playing more electric, getting the house cheering with his dexterous electric solo on "Cats On Mars".
Steven, as the bandleader, was literally in the spotlight at Hero's and looked relaxed the whole time he was behind the kit. He emceed each song casually and guided the arrangements through a few minor hiccups without any musician losing comfort. On "What Planet Is This?" he elicited audience participation from a crowd who for the most part already knew between which licks to shout that title phrase.
This show was everything that Infidels Jazz has aimed for in 2024. The band's appeal lent itself to marketing that brought new fans into the scene, and the performers presented it in genuine fun, not in any contrived attempt at marketing. Upcoming Infidels shows like Matt Grinke's Disney big band and Isabel Leong's Ghibli Jazz Orchestra are playing the same game and will have high expectations this summer. The Cowboy Bebop Bebop Band's third show is to be announced at the VIFF Centre, along with a screening of Cowboy Bebop of course, for late August.
