Hypnotic Brass Ensemble are eight brothers from the south side of Chicago. They come from an extraordinary musical family. Other sisters and brothers are professional musicians, their mothers are singers, and Phillip Cohran, their father, has roots running back to Mississippi, his time in the musical hothouse of 1940s St. Louis, and his seminal role with Sun Ra in Chicago in the 1950s. When Ra left for the east coast in 1960, Phil stayed in Chicago.