Kelan Phil Cohran (May 8, 1927 June 28, 2017) was a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

musician. He was best known for playing trumpet in the

Sun Ra Le Sony'r Ra (born Herman Poole Blount, May 22, 1914 – May 30, 1993), better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific out ...

Arkestra in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

from 1959 to 1961, and for his involvement in the foundation of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM).

Biography

Cohran was born in

Oxford, Mississippi Oxford is a city and college town in the U.S. state of Mississippi. Oxford lies 75 miles (121 km) south-southeast of Memphis, Tennessee, and is the county seat of Lafayette County. Founded in 1837, it was named after the British city of Oxf ...

, on May 8, 1927. When he was about nine, he moved with his family to Missouri. There, his father became a cook in a restaurant in

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in prese ...

, while the rest of the family stayed in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

. Cohran played

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

in bands led by

Jay McShann James Columbus "Jay" McShann (January 12, 1916 – December 7, 2006) was an American jazz pianist, vocalist, composer, and bandleader. He led bands in Kansas City, Missouri, that included Charlie Parker, Bernard Anderson, Walter Brown, and B ...

in the early 1950s, and then in a U.S. Navy band. He was introduced to the

Sun Ra Arkestra The Sun Ra Arkestra is an American jazz group formed in the mid-1950s and led by keyboardist/composer Sun Ra until his death in 1993. The group is considered a pioneer of afrofuturism. As of 2022, the Arkestra is led by saxophonist Marshall All ...

John Gilmore John Gilmore may refer to: * John Gilmore (activist) (born 1955), co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Cygnus Solutions * John Gilmore (musician) (1931–1995), American jazz saxophonist * John Gilmore (representative) (1780–1845), ...

in 1959. He appeared on the albums '' Fate In A Pleasant Mood'' and ''

Angels and Demons at Play ''Angels and Demons at Play'' is a jazz album by Sun Ra and his Myth Science Arkestra. Side one was recorded in 1960, including two tracks taken from the mammoth session either at Hall Recording Company or at the RCA Studios (both in Chicago), a ...

'' among others. He played mostly trumpet and sometimes stringed instruments such as the

zither Zithers (; , from the Greek word ''cithara'') are a class of stringed instruments. Historically, the name has been applied to any instrument of the psaltery family, or to an instrument consisting of many strings stretched across a thin, flat bo ...

. When the Arkestra moved from Chicago in 1961, Cohran declined to accompany them. In 1965 he took part in the founding of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). He formed the Artistic Heritage Ensemble with

Pete Cosey Peter Palus Cosey (October 9, 1943 – May 30, 2012) was an American guitarist who played with Miles Davis' band between 1973 and 1975. His fiercely flanged and distorted guitar invited comparisons to Jimi Hendrix. Cosey kept a low profile for ...

, future members of

Earth, Wind and Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (EW&F or EWF) is an American band whose music spans the genres of jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, big band, Latin, and Afro pop. They are among the best-selling bands of all time, with sales of over 90 million ...

's horn section and Motown percussionist "Master" Henry Gibson, among others. By this time, he was playing the

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...

cornet The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a sopr ...

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most ...

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass. It is the lowest-pitched saxophone in common use - the bass, contra ...

and

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

. The group recorded the album ''On the Beach'' around 1967. Early in his career, he invented an instrument he called the Frankiphone or the

Space Harp The space harp, also known as a frankiphone, is an electrified lamellophone invented by Phil Cohran as part of a musicological experiment exploring his African roots. He named it after his mother, Frankie. It was first recorded during his tenure wit ...

, which is actually an electrified

mbira Mbira ( ) are a family of musical instruments, traditional to the Shona people of Zimbabwe. They consist of a wooden board (often fitted with a resonator) with attached staggered metal tines, played by holding the instrument in the hands and p ...

kalimba Mbira ( ) are a family of musical instruments, traditional to the Shona people of Zimbabwe. They consist of a wooden board (often fitted with a resonator) with attached staggered metal tines, played by holding the instrument in the hands and p ...

; he played it on some of

's early albums. This instrument inspired

Maurice White Maurice White (December 19, 1941 – February 4, 2016) was an American singer, musician, songwriter, and record producer. He was best known as the founder, leader, main songwriter, and producer of the band Earth, Wind & Fire, and served as the ...

to use an electrified

Kalimba Mbira ( ) are a family of musical instruments, traditional to the Shona people of Zimbabwe. They consist of a wooden board (often fitted with a resonator) with attached staggered metal tines, played by holding the instrument in the hands and p ...

in performance with

. Cohran said that he taught White and his brothers music in their youth, much as

The Wailers ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

were tutored by

Joe Higgs Joseph Benjamin Higgs (3 June 1940 – 18 December 1999) was a reggae musician from Jamaica. In the late 1950s and 1960s he was part of the duo Higgs and Wilson together with Roy Wilson. He was a popular artist in Jamaica for four decades and is ...

. ''On the Beach'' features the Frankiphone on the title track, as well as a piece called "New Frankiphone Blues". Several of Cohran's sons make up eight of the nine members of the

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble Hypnotic Brass Ensemble is an eight-piece, Chicago-based brass ensemble consisting of eight sons of the jazz trumpeter Phil Cohran. Their musical style ranges from hip hop to jazz to funk and rock, including calypso and gypsy music. They call t ...

, which consists of four trumpets, two trombones, one euphonium, a sousaphone and drums. With

he recorded an album which had a simple idea: "my music and their band". Cohran taught voice and music to inner city youth and adults at

Northeastern Illinois University Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) is a public university in Chicago, Illinois. NEIU serves approximately 9,000 students in the region and is a Hispanic-serving institution. The main campus is located in the community area of North Park wi ...

's Center for Inner City Studies. He died in Chicago on June 28, 2017 at the age of 90.

Discography

As leader

*''On the Beach'' (1968) *''Spanish Suite'' (1968) Katalyst / Tizona *''Armageddon'' (Conceived in 1958 and written down in 1963 performed in 1968) Katalyst / Tizona *''The Malcolm X Memorial'' (1968) *''African Skies'' (1993, Captcha Records) as 'Kelan Phil Cohran And Legacy' *''Kelan Philip Cohran And The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble'' (2012, Honest Jon's Records) *''Single'' (2007) *''White Nile (1993)''

As sideman

With

*''

Interstellar Low Ways ''Interstellar Low Ways'' is an album recorded by the American jazz musician Sun Ra and his Myth Science Arkestra, mostly recorded in Chicago, 1960, and released in 1967 on his own El Saturn Records, El Saturn label. Originally titled ''Rocket Num ...

'' (1959) *'' Holiday for Soul Dance'' (1960) *'' Fate in a Pleasant Mood'' (1960) *''

'' (1965)

Filmography

*''Skywatchers of Africa'' (2002), music composition

References

External links

* – official site * * – excerpt from "''.sound'' at the

Schindler House The Schindler House, also known as the Schindler Chace House or Kings Road House, is a house in West Hollywood, California, designed by architect Rudolph M. Schindler. The house serves as headquarters to the MAK Center for Art and Architecture ...

" performance, at SASSAS {{DEFAULTSORT:Cohran, Phil 1927 births 2017 deaths People from Oxford, Mississippi American jazz trumpeters American male trumpeters Sun Ra Arkestra members Northeastern Illinois University faculty Jazz musicians from Mississippi American male jazz musicians African-American jazz musicians Spiritual jazz musicians