After taking its sound from Chicago streets to stages around the world, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble is returning home.
The Chicago-born brass group will be back in the city Oct. 8 for a private performance, following a recent run that included four sold-out shows at New York’s Blue Note and a featured appearance with Gorillaz at Madison Square Garden.
For Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, the return to Chicago is more than another stop on the calendar. The city is where the group’s musical identity was formed, where its members first performed together and where they built an audience through street performances.
The ensemble’s seven current members are sons of the late Phil Cohran, a Chicago jazz trumpeter, composer and educator who performed with Sun Ra’s Arkestra and helped establish the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. The brothers grew up under Cohran’s musical guidance through the Phil Cohran Youth Ensemble, which exposed them to music and live performance from an early age.
By 1999, brothers Tarik Graves, Seba Graves and Tycho Graves were experimenting with their own musical ideas before bringing them into Chicago’s public spaces. Some of the group’s earliest performances took place in Chicago Transit Authority stations, including the Jackson stop on the Red Line. The performances helped establish the street-level energy that would become part of the group’s identity.
The ensemble continued building its following independently, performing in streets and subway stations, selling CDs directly to audiences and using those performances to fund its next steps. In 2001, the group recorded and independently released its first album before traveling to New York to perform at the Apollo Theater’s Amateur Night.
That independent approach eventually carried the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble far beyond Chicago.
The group developed an international following and has performed at venues and festivals including Glastonbury, WOMAD, the Sydney Opera House and Carnegie Hall. Its music has also appeared in the film “The Hunger Games” and the television series “Fargo.”
Over the years, the ensemble has collaborated with or performed alongside artists including Erykah Badu, Ghostface Killah, RZA, Childish Gambino, Femi Kuti, Macy Gray, Smino and The LOX.
Its relationship with Gorillaz is also part of that history. Hypnotic Brass Ensemble first became involved with Gorillaz during the group’s “Plastic Beach” era and later returned to the stage with the band at Madison Square Garden on Sept. 29. The ensemble joined Gorillaz for performances of “Broken” and “Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach” during the New York show.
Now, the group is bringing that experience back to the city that helped shape it.
The ensemble is also preparing for the late-November release of its upcoming single “Time,” according to the group’s representatives. Its schedule will continue internationally with a performance at the Cork Jazz Festival in Ireland on Oct. 25.
For Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, the journey from Chicago’s streets to international stages has remained connected to the same foundation: family, improvisation, live performance and a deep connection to its hometown.
The group’s return offers a chance to follow that journey back to where it began: Chicago.
Fans can follow Hypnotic Brass Ensemble through its official channels for upcoming performance announcements and updates on “Time.”
