Where can I find more of the piano music of Yoko Kanno?

December 19, 2007 1:55 PM

The piano music of Yoko Kanno in this solo blew me away. Where can I find more of it? Similar artists?

A similar question has been asked previously, however emphasis seemed to be placed on the large jazz compositions of hers, while I'm interested in her solo piano compositions.

BONUS: If anyone can direct me to sheet music from Yoko Kanno, I would be much obliged.

posted by mwang1028 to media & arts (12 comments total)

If you haven't already, listen to the work she did for Cowboy Bebop. It's not all solo piano, but it's mind-blowing.
posted by cosmicbandito at 2:41 PM on December 19, 2007

I've always been a fan of the Macross Plus soundtrack. There's some good piano up in there.
posted by The GoBotSodomizer at 2:43 PM on December 19, 2007

I don't know Yoko Kanno at all, but from the clip I instantly thought of this Keith Jarrett album. I am not sure from your question if you're just looking for more of Yoko Kanno's work or other artists too, but you might want to give the Keith Jarrett a listen (and thanks for the question, because now I am going to check out more Yoko Kanno).
posted by nnk at 2:56 PM on December 19, 2007

There was a question from a days ago about recommending piano music. You could try some of the artists mentioned in that thread.
posted by afx237vi at 3:10 PM on December 19, 2007

Yoko Kanno is like the Japanese Danny Elfman. She's done a lot of work for the entertainment industry like cosmicbandito and The GoBotSodomizer mentioned above, but neither are strong in piano solos. The Bebop soundtrack is blues/jazzy and the Macross Plus soundtrack is pretty... experimental. But awesome.
posted by reebear at 5:15 PM on December 19, 2007

This sounds just like George Winston, particularly the phrase at around 4:40 sounds like a riff from Winter.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 6:44 PM on December 19, 2007

Er, make that December.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 6:44 PM on December 19, 2007

searching for 菅野よう子 on amazon.co.jp brings up a lot of stuff. They ship to the US for around $20+$3/item; takes about a week to get here.
posted by panamax at 11:17 PM on December 19, 2007

unfortunately there's nothing in the "score" category.

Doing some digging I did find the "Anime 1992-1998 Easy Piano Solo" book on Amazon.co.jp that according to wikipedia here has "Tank" and "Real Folk Blues". I haven't bought anything from the amazon.co.jp marketplace but it should be possible, perhaps.

The fan site yokokanno.com has score lists here (at the bottom). These score books generally feature 1 or 2 songs by Kanno.
posted by panamax at 12:03 AM on December 20, 2007

ah I tried to buy that marketplace . . . they only ship domestic
posted by panamax at 12:26 AM on December 20, 2007

Other fabulous Yoko Kanno soundtracks are Ghost in the Shell and Escaflowne, although I can't remember off the top of my head how much solo piano they include (at work now, so I can't check).

You should be able to find most if not all of the soundtracks mentioned in this thread at yesasia.com -- they definitely ship to the US.
posted by somanyamys at 5:08 AM on December 20, 2007

My very first reaction was the same as nnk's: Keith Jarrett. Heck, I closed my eyes and I thought I was listening to Keith Jarret.
posted by lpsguy at 7:21 AM on December 20, 2007