Arashi no Saxophone (
While Esaka and Tears were created to mirror Kyo Kusanagi's music taste, Arashi no Saxophone was created to mirror Iori's music taste. All of these songs have a prominent use of the saxophone, as the name says, and all of the songs' genres are classified as jazz.
Arashi no Saxophone (Storming Sax)[]
The first Arashi no Saxophone worked as theme for Iori Yagami, Billy Kane and Eiji Kisaragi, but the music director had Iori Yagami and their stage in mind while composing the music.
The song, as the name says, has a prominent use of the saxophone, but there's also a piano, a bass guitar and an electric in the background and there's also a very "jazzy and funky" drum.
The arranged version also has some vocals ("Don't you want me baby sprinkle?", "Oh everybody! Hwuah", "Hell no" during the flute solo, "And then lean to the right....not too much." During the Piano solo, mainly singing "Let me see you dance on the floor! before the flute solo and towards the end). The two piano solos and a flute solo, reminding the viewer of the fast funk songs of the 70s.
List of musicians behind the arranged version:
- Shigeo Fuchino (Saxophone and Flute)
- Nobuo Eguchi (Drums)
- Chiharu Mikuzuki (Bass)
- Jun Kajiwara (Guitar)
- Hiroyuki Nanba (Keyboards)
- Brother-Hige (Vocal)
The song returns in The King of Fighters '98 albeit rearranged to give a rock feeling with the addition of electric guitars and the vocals removed. The arranged version also has a piano solo and an organ solo. As such, the KOF '98 version of Arashi no Saxophone is only given to Iori Yagami himself.
List of musicians behind the arranged version:
- Osamu Koike (Saxophone)
- Jun Kajiwara (Guitar)
- Masaharu Ishikawa (Drums)
- Naoki Watanabe (Bass)
- Chizuko Yoshihiro (Keyboard)
It returns again in The King of Fighters XI, albeit the song resembles the original version from KOF '95. The same version returns yet again in The King of Fighters XIII as extra music for when players face the Yagami Team if the game's music is set to Type-B. The song returns in The King of Fighters XIV as a Fateful Battle theme when Iori Yagami faces Kyo Kusanagi as the opponent, both wearing their Classic DLC costumes, alongside Yappari ESAKA?.
Arashi no Saxophone 2 (Stormy Saxophone 2)[]
The second version of Arashi no Saxophone is a revamp of the first Arashi no Saxophone. The major difference is a bigger use of the electric guitar. It mixes jazz, funk and hard rock.
The arranged version includes a fully instrumental arrangement with an alto sax compared with the synth tenor sax used in the OST. It features a new extended intro, a couple of solos alternated with the saxophone and the lead guitar and an overall re-haul of the sound scheme to fill up a jazz fusion vibe.
List of musicians behind the arranged version:
- Nobuyuki Mori (Saxophone)
- Chiharu Mikuzuki (Bass)
- Jun Kajiwara (Guitar)
- Ken Morimura (Keyboard and Piano)
- Toshihiro Tsuchida (Drums)
This song has been strongly associated by fans to Vice and Mature, and was also used in The King of Fighters '98 and The King of Fighters 2002.
It also returns in the console version of The King of Fighters XIII, albeit rearranged from the original version but with actual saxophones playing the main tune. As such, the KOF XIII version of Arashi no Saxophone 2 is associated with DLC character "Iori Yagami with the Power of the Flames" better known as "Iori Yagami Classic" or "EX Iori".
It returns once again in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as part of the Terry Bogard DLC. This version is arranged once again by Noriyuki Iwadare. This version is paced much faster than the previous iterations of this song, and also includes an electric guitar solo similar to the arranged version of the song.
It made another return in The King of Fighters XV, rearranged from the KOF XIII version, and played in a lower key than the previous versions.
Cool JAM (Arashi no Saxophone 3)[]
The third version of Arashi no Saxophone is titled "Cool Jam". The major difference is a bigger use of the bass guitar (the instrument Iori plays in his band) and a bigger approach to jazz than the rock sounds from the previous two songs.
The arranged version has more saxophone solo, and also added an organ solo and some vocals (the line "Let's see it!", shout with joy and also brought back 95's "Don't you want me baby sprinkle?"), while the bass guitar was toned down a bit, but still having its own solos. As the name of the track implies, the musicians used a more improvised jam session by the end of the track where the sax and the organ featured alternated solos until fade out. There is a small detail they included in reference to the instrument Iori plays, after the Bass solo he says "cool.." then continues to play along with the Saxophone.
List of musicians behind the arranged version:
- Osamu Koike (Saxophone)
- Nobuo Eguchi (Drums)
- Motofumi Ogiwara (Bass)
- Jun Kajiwara (Guitar)
- Chizuko Yoshihiro (Keyboard)
The song returns in The King of Fighters '98, but it, along with Esaka Forever, will play when Kyo is Iori's opponent.
Cool JAM 2[]
While "Cool Jam 2" is not part of the Arashi no Saxophone series, it is the second version of Cool Jam.
The song starts with an intro snare drum fill, turning into a funky drum beat with constant synth melody; after that, the saxophone joins in.
The arranged version is much louder and the saxophone was replaced by brass instruments.
Stormy Scream (Arashi no Saxophone 4)[]
The fourth version of Arashi no Saxophone is titled "Stormy Scream". The song starts with an intense drum beat followed by a groovy bass riff, and finally the main saxophone melody.
In the arranged version, the overall sound is more aggressive than the previous versions of Arashi. The saxophone sounds more louder and features more solos (including guitar and piano).
List of musicians behind the arranged version:
- Osamu Koike (Saxophone)
- Naoki Watanabe (Bass)
- Jun Kajiwara (Guitar)
- Chizuko Yoshihiro (Organ)
- Atsuo Okamoto (Drums)
Arashi no Saxophone 5[]
Arashi no Saxophone 5 is the fifth and latest version of the Arashi no Saxophone series. The song starts with a funky guitar riff backed up by hi-hat upbeats followed by a drum fill, and finally the saxophone solos.
Due to the better sound quality of the game (compared to previous entries), Arashi no Saxophone 5 does not have an arranged version.
Saxophone Under the Moon[]
This song, despite not bearing the "Arashi no Saxophone" name, sounds a lot like the songs of the series, complete with prominent use of electric guitars while maintaining the jazzy saxophones. This theme is used in the "Industrial Area" stage of The King of Fighters XIV, which is the home stage to the Yagami Team. The stage is modeled after the Rival Team's stage in The King of Fighters '95, only taking place at a rooftop on a crescent moon night as opposed to being on the ground at sunset.
An arrangement of "Saxophone Under the Moon" appears on the PlayStation 4 Menu if the style theme is set to "KOF XIV - TEAM YAGAMI" in the console's system.
The musicians behind this theme are:
- Toshimichi Imao (Alto and Tenor Saxophone)
Stormy Saxophone Under the Moon[]
This song serves as a medley to the original Arashi no Saxophone, Arashi no Saxophone 2, Saxophone Under the Moon, Cool Jam ~Arashi no Saxophone 3~, and Stormy Scream ~Arashi no Saxophone 4~. The saxophones in this version are replaced with vibraphones to reflect the game's feminine theme. Background instrumental samples of the original themes are also present in this theme. This theme is used in Miss X's customization menu of SNK Heroines Tag Team Frenzy.
Trivia[]
- In the OST and AST versions of "Arashi no Saxophone" in KOF '95, its rearrangement for the home port of KOF XI, and the AST version of "Cool Jam ~ Arashi no Saxophone 3" in KOF '97, a female voice can be heard reciting, "221B Baker Street". This was the address of Sherlock Holmes.
- Curiously, the OST version of "Tsuchi o Hau Bass", the theme of Team Women Fighters in KOF '95, also features this voice clip.