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Phil Cohran

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Phil Cohran (1927 to 2017) was an American jazz musician, born in Oxford, Mississippi, and raised in Missouri. In the early 1950s he played trumpet in the band of Jay McShann and then in a US Navy band. In 1959 the saxophonist John Gilmore brought him to the Sun Ra Arkestra in Chicago. Cohran played with them until 1961, mostly trumpet and sometimes a stringed instrument such as the zither, and can be heard on albums such as Fate In A Pleasant Mood and Angels and Demons at Play. When the orchestra left Chicago, he stayed behind.

Music and breakthrough

In 1965 he helped found the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). He formed the Artistic Heritage Ensemble, with which he recorded the album On the Beach around 1967. In that year he also started the Afro-Arts Theater, a centre for African American musicians on the South Side of Chicago. By then he played harp, cornet, horn, baritone saxophone and percussion.

Influence

Cohran also devised an instrument of his own, the Frankiphone or Space Harp: an electrically amplified mbira or kalimba. The instrument featured on early Sun Ra records and inspired Maurice White to use an electric kalimba with Earth, Wind and Fire. According to Cohran, he taught White and his brothers in their youth. Eight of the nine members of the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble are his sons. He taught young people and adults in Chicago well into old age.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to the title track of On the Beach and try to hear the Frankiphone, the electric thumb piano. Notice how soft and metallic it sounds compared with trumpet or drums.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

Categories: Artists