Kelan Phil Cohran
Phil Cohran was born in Missisipi in 1927, He has lived in Chicago for the last 50 years and is a remarkable character who has created a musical realm of his own within the world we live and sustained this existence through the sheer love of his craft, astronomy and the sciences . He came into contact with cosmic misfit Sun Ra in the late 1950s in Chicago at a time when they would rehearse relentlessly for 6 hours in the day and play for 6 hours every night. This period of his career was an apex for Cohran laden with discovery and enlightenment especially in comparison to what he was used to playing and performing during the late 1940s and early 50s.

He went on to record on several albums with Sun Ra from 1959-65 and became an integral player within the Arkestra under it’s many guises. Eventually Sun Ra and his collective moved to New York, Cohran decided to stayed behind for his own reasons:

“Sun Ra’s music was so great. He removed all the borders in my mind. He moved you so powerfully and generated such a response in people that I knew I wanted to do that on my own. That’s the reason I didn’t go with him”.

Here is a piece of music featuring Phil Cohran playing with Sun Ra’s Arkestra

By the mid 1960s he along with fellow Chicago musicians such as Steve Mc Call, Muhal Richard Abrams & Jodie Christian set up the foundations for the AACM – The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians , a collective of musicians and composers dedicated to nurturing, performing, and recording serious, original music. This led to the creation of his Artistic Heritage Ensemble which mentored the likes of Earth, Wind & Fire. All his recordings were live and in 1967-68 they recorded several albums ‘On The Beach’,

along with Spanish Suite and the Armageddon LP.

Not forgetting the acclaimed Malcolm X Memorial recording from this period and as the title suggests was recorded as a homage to the life and work of his personal friend the assassinated  minister/human rights activist and black nationalist El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. It is a suite consisting of 4 tracks that capture a different period in his life; “Malcolm Little, Detroit Red, Malcolm X, & El Hajj Malik El Shabazz” .

The band on this recording includes Charles Williams, Don Myrick, Louis Satterfield, Pete Cosey, Henry Gibson, Willie Woods, and Aaron Dodd – a lineup of players who also worked with Sun Ra, The Pharoahs, and Earth Wind & Fire.

The album Afrikan Skies  with his band Legacy was recorded in 1993, this album was dedicated to Herman ‘Sonny’ Blount aka Sun Ra who had recently passed away. This album channels his former mentors spirit and cosmic treasures creating a rich recording that plays more like a requiem or hymn for most of the part but is celebratory in its realisation. The track ‘White Nile’ sums up the the mood and tone of this recording best for me.

Phil Cohran has just recorded a full album of original material with his sons Hypnotic Brass Ensemble which will see a release with Honest Jon’s later this year. We had the good fortune to hear some of this music during the summer in the studio and it sounds incredible. As a taster for how this collaboration might sound, check this track from Hypnotic Brass Ensembles 2011 summer release Bulletproof Brass titled Black Boy.
BlackBoy by ChoiceCuts

Small vinyl runs (only 1000 Malcolm X Memorial lps were pressed up on his own Zulu Records in 1968) and staying independent for most of the part led to most of Phil Cohran’s musical legacy not really leaving the Chicago area. Several vinyls have been reissued such as ‘Afrikan Skies’ on Captcha this year ,’Malcolm X Memorial’ on Mississipi in 2007, and a 7 inch series with Jazzman. These were all limited edition runs but you can still get them if you look around online. Original pressings of his work are still hard to find and for the last 30-40 years people predominantly bought his music directly from him on Cassette/CD  after his performances and in local music stores.

Regardless of his relative anonymity outside of the Chicago area and in mainstream music circles, his music is truly sublime and comes highly recommended, it sounds like nothing you have ever heard before.

Kelan Phil Cohran will be playing the harp at Another Honest Jon’s Chop Up on Oct 28th at The Cork Jazz Festival (Sold Out) and for ourselves in Vicar Street on Nov 1st with Damon Albarn, Tony Allen, Flea, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Phil Cohran, Fatou Diawara, Theo Parrish, M.anifest., Cheick Tidiane Seck & Shangaan Electro.

It’s quite a lineup for these shows and as so many people were asking me about the show itself and are in the dark about some of the artists on the billing I felt compelled to drop a little background on this man and his work, inspirational to say the least.