Hypnotic Brass ensemble

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble is a family of 8 blood brothers, sons of jazz trumpeter/composer Phil Cohran (Sun Ra, co-founder of AACM, mentor to EARTH WIND & FIRE), who were raised on the south-side of Chicago under the rigorous training methods their musically talented parents. From an early age it was clear the brothers of Hypnotic were born for the stage, they grew at the feet of music giants such as Louis Satterfield, Sun Ra, & Pete Cosey while at the same time performing as children along with father at local showcases.
By 1999, a few of the older members returned from music scholarships at college to find their younger brothers playing on the streets of Chicago to rave success. They subsequently formed the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble and after finding a drummer, began to collectively write original tunes in order to create a record with their very own sound "The Flipside". Initially their only aim was to bring horns and live instrumentation back to mainstream music, but after taking to the streets of United States' major cities HBE enjoyed the independent success of over 65,000 units sold direct to fans and also attracted the attention of Kanye West mentor NO ID. In 2003, Hypnotic cut the horns for his current production "Metal Lungees" that featured on Wu-Tang MC Ghostface Killah's "Pretty Toney" album for Def Jam Island. At the same time HBE had begun to record & self-produce their sophomore effort "Jupiter", and when a Def Jam Records production deal went sour the band moved to NYC to promote and sale their latest project solo.
Hypnotic spent the next few years performing at clubs, festivals, even the streets displaying their signature brand of live music infused with the elements of hip-hop, jazz, soul, reggae, & rock that allowed them to cross genre lines and build a massive grass roots fan base. Following the release of band's third LP (NYC Live), Hypnotic pressed two 10 inch vinyls and self-distributed them as far as London Portabello Road, where Atlantic Records CEO listened to one of them & developed interest about the band. Bad management led to poor communication and in the end HBE turned down the artist deal offered by Atlantic then began performing as the MOS DEF BIG BAND in 2007, backing up one of hiphop's legends Yasiin Bey along with Robert Glasper and Chris Dave. Tours took a break when Mos started shooting for an upcoming film so HBE set back to work, featuring on Damon Albarn's "The Good The Bad The Queen". Also at this time Hypnotic inked a promotional agreement with denim icons GSTAR RAW for outfitting and event performance that resulted in the band's first tour overseas to Europe.
International touring became a good fit for band & audience alike as HBE graced the stages of the North Sea Jazz Fest in Holland, Banlieues Bleues in Paris, & Novarra Jazz Fest in Italy before finally moving to London and signing an artist deal with UK indie Honest Jons in 2009 for a "Best of Hypnotic Brass" album featuring original tunes from the band's previous 3 releases. Although the brothers of Hypnotic rarely performed backing up Mos Def by this time, they had seen firsthand how well they mixed with feature artists and continued by collaborating with Maxwell (Pretty Wings), Erykah Badu (Honey remix), & Tony Allen (Lo Sun) among others. The band's big collaboration came with their integral work with Damon Albarn on The Gorillaz' LP: Welcome to Plastic Beach in 2010 (5.2 million sold), in the studio and on stage at the world tour that spanned the globe covering five continents. While on tour with the various artists from the Gorillaz entourage Hypnotic got inspired to add new components to the live sound, and when they moved back to NYC this new sound found life in the first release by band's new imprint (PHEELCO ENTERTAINMENT) "Bulletproof Brass" 2011 which spoke of "Parliament Funkadelic" influences as opposed to the usual comparison to an introspective Earth Wind & Fire. Since then HBE has toured Europe backing up Prince (NPG Fest 2011), featured live on "Jools Holland Show" in UK, landed an original song in Hollywood blockbuster "Hunger Games", and headlined the Sydney Opera House to a sold-out crowd. Lately, there is a PBS documentary film about the band "BROTHERS HYPNOTIC" that will tell the story of a musical legacy that is not yet complete.