The eight young men who make up the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble are all sons of Phil Cohran, a legendary Chicago trumpeter who turned his back on commercial music to pursue astral jazz (with the \u201ccosmic philosopher\u201d of jazz, Sun Ra), proto-funk, and a passionately Afrocentric lifestyle. Cohran\u2019s ultimate avant-garde work, however, may have been his own sons, who were raised communally on Chicago\u2019s South Side with Cohran and their two mothers, complete with homemade clothes, veganism, and alternative holidays.<\/p>\n
Starting at age four, the boys also joined the family band, learning to play the trumpet, tuba, drums, French horn, cornet, and trombone. Rehearsals began early each morning but, unlike the Jackson Five, Cohran\u2019s sons were not bred for pop stardom. Instead they were taught to \u201ccreate sounds to fuse with the body and heal the soul,\u201d and to serve as an inspiration for the community.<\/p>\n
Cohran\u2019s \u201cboys,\u201d as seen in Reuben Atlas\u2019s Brothers Hypnotic<\/b><\/i>, are now young men in their 20s and 30s, and when they raise their horns, they make transcendent music that ties currents from jazz and funk to soul and hip-hop. But although working together as their father had hoped \u2014 whether playing in Times Square, negotiating with managers and record labels, or jamming with Mos Def and Prince \u2014 they find the unwavering ideals bred into them by their father repeatedly tested.<\/p>\n
The film follows the octet as far away as Ireland as they tour and work to carve out their own renown around the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Eight brothers who were forged into a band as children by their father, Chicago jazz maverick Phil Cohran, now try to march to their own beat on the streets of New York and in the music business as the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":9987,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"topic":[1216,1250,1264],"class_list":["post-297","films","type-films","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","topic-arts-and-culture","topic-music-2","topic-race-ethnicity"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n