In the late 70's through the early 80's, all the brothers were born on the southside of Chicago, Illinois. Their family had a strong musical legacy that span the city. In 1986, their father formed "Phil Cohran and th Youth Ensemble". The eight brothers performed with their mothers, older brothers and sisters, as well as their father, Kelan Phil Cohran ( co-founder of AACM, Sun Ra's lead trumpeter, mentor to "the Pharoah's", later known as " Earth Wind and Fire"). After honing their technique on stage, the older brothers undertook music scholarship from universities abroad (Clark Atlanta Univ., Langston Univ.). The younger ones took to the streets of Chicago earning money by playing music of their own.
In 1999 the brothers combined their efforts and began performing a new style of brass music they called "Hypnotic". After recording their first album "the Flipside" they won the 2001 CPS Young Author's Award for the title track on the cd "Satin Sheets". This success propelled them on to perform for "WNUA Jazzin at the Lake", "State street Live", and "Metamorphosis of Jazz" all on behalf of Chicago department of Tourism and Special Events. In 2005 Hypnotic released their sophomore album "Jupiter" reeling off the success of the freshman LP's 325,000 units sold independently (Merc Records). In the past few years, they have traveled all over the world playing for audiences of all genres; opening up for the B52's at Chicago HOB, Talib Kweli at Harold Washington Cultural Center, headlining along with Mos Def at Lincoln center in NY, and backing up Maceo Parker at Apollo Theater in Harlem. This talented family of performers wrote every song on their sophomore release while at the same time recording collaborations with artists such as GhostFace Killah and Tony Allen.
Since then the band of brothers has turned down two major label offers only to release their third LP independently with two 10 inch vinyls being distributed in Europe and Japan. Hypnotic's performances include the Northern Sea Jazz festival 2007(Netherlands); Festival Musicas do Mundo (Portugal); Mouson Arts and Music fest (Germany); Brooklyn Academy of Music ( New York); and "Bread and Butter Barcelona 2007" (spain). Ending the year with a tour of London, Dublin, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam. (Short performance clips are available to view on Youtube); The brother's released their fourth LP "Tha Brothas" (Philco Entertainment) 2008. In 2009, HBE released, "Hypnotic Brass Ensemble" (Honest Jons/My Publishing Group), and began to tour Europe/UK/Japan/Australia/S. America/Africa. Performing at the biggest music festival's across the globe ( Glastonbury 2009/10, Womad UK/AUD 2009/10, Roskilde Denmark 2010,Perc Pan Music Festival Brazil 2010, to name a few. In 2009, HBE recorded with the "Gorillaz", then was featured on "Welcome to Plastic Beach World Tour" 2010. Through the years performing in NY, and overseas. HBE has silently been endorsed by G-Star Clothing. Wearing this elite brand, to fit the bands unique sound,style,and story. Every step taken by these ambassadors of brass has been to fuse the better parts of jazz, rock, reggae, and hip hop into a legacy that will shape the future of music.
Instrumentation-
Tycho (bass/sousaphone)
Seba (bass trombone)
Saiph (tenor trombone)
Uttama (euphonium)
Ben, Yehuda, Jafar Baji, Amal Bajiand & Tarik (trumpet). Also utilize full percussion (clave, congas, cowbells, etc.) and voice by all members (lyrics and song).
Discography-
1st LP - The Flipside, 2001
2nd LP - Jupiter, 2005
3rd LP - New York City Live, 2007
Balicky Bone - 10 inch vinyl, 2006
War - 10 inch vinyl, 2007
Radio airplay for "Jupiter" LP in Chicago WNUA fm; WBEZ am. In New York WBAI FM
Radio airplay for "War" vinyl in Rotterdam, Canada, Germany, and UK
4th LP - Tha Brothas, 2008
5th LP - Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, 2009
1st EP - Heritage, 2010
Press:
nadja@nadjacoyne.co.uk
TV and Radio:
gareth@chapdav.com
Label:
alan@honestjons.com
Booking:
julesdelattre@theagencygroup.com / michellecooney@theagencygroup.com
Spottie - Heritage EP Exclusive DownloadbyChoiceCuts
ChoiceCuts presents Hypnotic Brass Ensemble from Loughlin McSweeney on Vimeo.
Check out Hypnotic Brass Ensemble featuring on the new Gorillaz Album - Plastic Beach
