Written by Israel Lerma
This month, I visited for the first time the newly built Doc's Jazz Club located in Montrose. Opening on November 15, 2024, Doc's is billed as one of the largest jazz clubs in the nation, featuring a multi-genre lineup spanning jazz, blues, R&B, and soul. This month, I went to Doc's to experience "The Music from Cowboy Bebop with the Woody Witt Big Band."
The ensemble borrowed from a popular anime from the 1990s called Cowboy Bebop, a stylish sci-fi noir that follows a crew of bounty hunters drifting through the solar system. Though it's only one season (26 episodes), it's classy, jazzy, and mixes action, raw comedy, and melancholy in a retro-futuristic vibe that provides it with its unique aura. We get to explore the main character, Spike, and his past, slowly creeping up on him and his crew, while almost every sequence features various styles of jazz, from Japanese to ballads, of course, bebop, and more.
I arrived early at the venue and got to catch the soundcheck! Here, I could tell it was going to be a crazy night, as the iconic central theme of the song Tank!, playing with high energy, featured lots of punchy brass, walking bass, and rapid drum hits. Kicking off with the famous "3, 2, 1… let's jam!", the Woody Witt Big Band set the tone for the show. After talking to a server at the restaurant, I was informed that this was the loudest he had ever heard at the venue, as the band was 20 members deep, the largest band ever to perform at Doc's so far. He said, "This speaker you see up there, that's for decoration, this big band will literally fill every corner with sound, even up here."
As the show started and the audience settled in their seats, the music filled the room as Woody Witt performed a filthy saxophone solo with 32 bars of pure sharp accents, syncopation, and little rhythmic hiccups on “Tank.” Witt really raced through arpeggios and scales, with a great screaming ending of hitting such a high E flat to end off. The way Woody moves and plays, he seems flashy, restless, and precise with every breath and every note hit.
Following “Tank” was the upbeat, horn-driven "Rush". As each song is being played, footage from the TV show is shown on a large projector behind the band. “Rush” was the soundtrack to the first fight in Cowboy Bebop between Spike and his first bounty on the show. This song follows the whole scene, accompanied by jam-packed sounds in the six-minute fight. I really love how the entire show uses clips from the anime, as not only do we get to hear the music, we also get visual cues on where it lands in the series. Featuring scenes from the show in addition to the music helped to elevate the experience, making the audience feel more immersed in what is happening as we listen.
An impressive moment within the performance was "Sax Quartet," 
a jazz cut that consisted of the saxes trading tight harmonies and quick, bebop-style runs—smooth but restless, like a classy lounge vibe with sharp edges. The stacked sax chords mixed with call-and-response phrases make the performance feel immersive. Warren Reed does such a great job in improving these songs, effortlessly traveling through a blues chord during a solo. "Call Me Call Me", a moody, late-night ballad that feels like drifting through space, only to feel regret and longing. The band usually has a singer who sings in Japanese, but she was not able to make it to the performance. Despite the absence of vocals, the instruments did a great job of providing the romantic and lonely vibe of the song, playing over Ed and Ein deciding to leave the bebop, and Faye struggling to face her own demons.
To close the show, The Big Band proceeded to play one of the most iconic songs from Cowboy Bebop, "Space Lion", containing one of the best sax solos I have ever heard. Played by Woody Witt, his phrasing is quite slow yet deliberate. Every note is meticulously played with passion and emotion. Witt provided the solos with a breathy, sad subtone at the start, only to transform the tone into a warm, crying vibrato that resembles a passionate scream. The use of silence within the song is just as effective as the notes played, making the melody feel like it's echoing through a vast, empty room. “Space Lion” is slow and hypnotic, which made me feel like I was floating through space.
Leaving Doc's that night, I felt like I'd experienced Cowboy Bebop in a new context. Cowboy Bebop is my favorite anime ever, and being in Doc’s in what was set up as a half-concert, half-cinematic memory is something I haven’t found elsewhere. Hearing those tracks live made the aud
ience feel immersed in the adventures of the crew, and the music guided the story of the show. Throughout the performance, the sounds of the brass shook the room, the hypnotic use of drums that floated, a guitar that transcended the space, and sax lines that carried the emotional weight. Doc's on Westheimer was a perfect place for an evening out to experience great jazz music. The energy of the space and the skill of the musicians help to create a memorable time.
“See you, space cowboy…”