I'm riding home in probably the slowest train in NYC. There's a lady with smelly hair to my left playing solitaire on her iPOD, and I'm trying so SO hard to distract myself from the numerous local stops this 'express' train has decided to take. WHY DIDNT I JUST TAKE A CAB?!! *yawn*
Then my 'random' set playlist delivers a cut that throws me back 11 months.
*Insert soap opera-like bad 'dream sequence' here*
I had just come off the 'R' train, making my way to the red line heading home... my iPOD on AS USUAL on full blast. I see a crowd gathering at some spectacle. I'm tired, hungry, but it catches my attention, and as i curiously pull the plugs from my ears, I am hit with the punching chords of a tuba.
Like a moth to a flame, I am drawn towards the sounds as well. I have absolutely no say in the matter. Finally able to wiggle my way through a sea of stretched necks, I stand there and watch 9 young men in their mid-to-late twenties, wearing nothing but 'wife-beaters', jeans and a whole lot of attitude, play what became later one of my favorite songs, 'WAR'!! Very soon the last chords play out, wind instruments drop off the lips, a thunderous applause explodes and there is a 'hustler' style call for CD sales. I stand fixated... in awe . . . These guys were UNBELIEVABLE.
Of course I bought the CD, and this encounter led to a little friendship with the Tuba player in the group. He once hooked me up with free tickets to a 'sold out' show they had at 'Joe's Pub', and I at some point gave him an ASA CD which he said he LOVED!!!
There is something uplifting about the 'Hypnotic' horns like a spiritual upliftment. They have found a way to infuse the best part of jazz with a growing 'Hip-Hop' movement.
With 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, a tuba and a drummer the brass ensemble usually play without added amplifiers, but their sounds bellow across any crowded street, underground subway or stage.
Profiled by various print media (including the NY Times) as the group to 'watch out for' and having performed and recorded with many high profile artistes including Mos Def, Tony Allen Maxwell, Erykah Badu, the Chicago natives are the center of attraction at many concerts and jazz festivals across the globe... NO JOKE!!
9 brothers (8 by blood and one adopted by love), originally from Chicago are sons of the legendary 'Sun Ra' Arkestra trumpet player, Phil Cohran, so music is in their blood. It used to happen, that you came out the subway or crossed a busy street in NYC and the odds of catching a 'Hypnotic' jam session was pretty high... but as their books keep filling up (they are over-booked, especially for Europe) and hardly ever in the country these days, I have not seen them around for almost 4 months. Plus I kind of lost contact with Tycho the Tuba player.
However, the other day, I making home from an exhausting shoot, come off the 'S' train in Time Square station and I hear faint sounds of a rhythm so familiar. "I know that sound... Could it be them?"
I kid you not, I followed the sound around like a mad woman, or rather, a hound dog on a hunt, high off a scent. I meander through the maze-like, grimey subway and I finally stand atop a staircase... right above their heads, as the huff and puff those melodies into the air. I soooo wanted to go down and watch them... even if for five minutes, then catch them during their break and ask "where the heck have you guys been? Ive missed you!!" But like a shy girl who spots her ex-boyfriend before he does her, and not feeling 'hot enough' for the encounter, i turned around with a smile and headed towards the 'Red Line'.
Its just good to know their still around... and as the train doors close, I search for their album off my IPod and click my other favorite song of theirs, "BALICKY BONE"
ENJOY!!!
p.s. I was told that these boys were invited to play at this year's FELABRATION just recently concluded in Lagos, Nigeria. I hope they were able to make it and the audience was able to appreciate the the spirit in their music.
Hypnotic Brass Ensemble - "BALIKY BONE" (LIVE at Columbus Circle & Times Square)
Hypnotic Brass Ensemble - 'WAR'
Hypnotic Brass Ensemble jamming with Mos Def (jamming in their dressing room before a show)
Hypnotic Brass Ensemble - "SANKOFA" (on stage performing their Tony Allen collabo with their mum dancing)
