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HBE are eight brothers from the south side of Chicago. They come from an extraordinary musical family. Other sisters and brothers are professional musicians, their mothers are singers, and Philip Cohran, their father, has roots running back to Mississippi, his time in the musical hothouse of 1940s St Louis, and his seminal role with Sun Ra in Chicago in the 1950s. When Ra left for the east coast in 1960, Phil stayed in Chicago. By the time the members of the HBE were growing up, Phil’s work as a musical activist and educator had led to the establishment of a space called the Sun Ark in a warehouse behind the family home above a furniture shop. At night when they went to bed the children would hear their father rehearsing with his band the Circle Of Sound. They were wakened at 6 a.m. for several hours’ music practice before going to school. From an early age they were a central part of their father’s Youth Ensemble. Coinciding with this involvement in their father’s ethos was a parallel passion. “At night we used to sneak under the covers and listen to NWA and Public Enemy. Ice Cube and Eazy-E were our heroes.” Very young, they formed their first group, GWC (Gangsters With A Curfew), which morphed into Wolf Pak (War On Pigs And Klan). “We used to hum. We used to all hum the same way that we play our horns now, everybody on beat boxes or making harmonies, and we’d pass the mike around and rap.”
Recorded on the back of the Africa Express trip to Lagos last October, during a three-day stop-over in London, with the drummer’s stool shared by Malcolm Catto from the The Heliocentrics, Sola Akingbola from Jamiroquai, and the one and only Tony Allen. Another friend from the Nigeria trip, Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers turned up at the session: handed Paul Simenon’s bass, parked up in the studio, he muttered, “Woah, so this is the thing that this was written on”, hammering out Guns Of Brixton.
So here it is. The gorgeous, thrilling music of the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble.
Tracklist: A1. Alyo A2. Gibbous A3. War B1. Ballicki Bone B2. Flipside B3. Marcus Garvey C1. Jupiter C2. Party Started C3. Rabbit Hop D1. Sankofa D2. Hypnotic D3. Satin Sheets D4. Rabbit Hop (Version)
Format: 2 x 12-inch Vinyl LP Label: Honest Jon's Records Catalog: HJRLP42 Released: 2009 Genre: Jazz / Jazz-funk
