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LP
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HBE 012LP
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"2020 sees Hypnotic Brass Ensemble celebrating twenty years together not only as a band, but a Band of Brothers and they are marking this anniversary with the launch of their sixth studio album Bad Boys of Jazz, which sees them seamlessly weave funk, dub, hip-hop and soul into their own irrepressible take on jazz. They draw deep from the well of tradition while taking the pulse of the most cutting-edge and street-savvy sounds. The Bad Boys of Jazz album release marks a turning point in Hypnotic Brass Ensemble's development. Trading their signature all brass sound, and adding an electric guitar and bass to their aptly vibrant horn lines, they've written 14 new tracks of sonic sorbet for this fresh album. The energy and feel move seamlessly through genres -- from Delta's rock-infused distorted guitar to the house music rendition of In The House; from My Ship's rhythm & blues inflection or the very soca feel of Soul on Ice to Indigo's solid groove. There's room left for the sing-along tunes Coffee and Friends and this body of work flows comfortably into the very funky Menage. The band has been at the forefront of the global jazz revival of the last decade, bringing the music back to its dance floor origins and along the way, legions of new fans hip to the fact that jazz runs through the DNA of nearly every strand of Afro American music. Jazz has always been an evolving and innovative force in music, renewing itself by borrowing from whatever styles and fresh sounds come its way. The Hypnotics are past masters at this process of assimilation and innovation, blowing fresh sounds on the embers of tradition, keeping the flame lit. They call their brand of music now music. Presented here is the fully Instrumental version of each track."
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12"
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BBOJ 012EP
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"In Chicago there weren't a lot of dance clubs or places youth could go to enjoy the nightlife, meet girls OR boys, and get loose on the dancefloor... so there became a strong revival of the 'house party'. Where one person would get a sound system & DJ, red or black lights, few beers or bottles of liquor, and throw a party in the basement of their own (or relatives) house. You would invite your close friends and all the cool people in your neighborhood, and the later into the night it got... the more packed it would get. The music they played at these became known as 'House Music!' Now Chicago has always been rough and these parties happened on the South or West sides of the city, so you couldn't just rock up on your own and you couldn't necessarily just walk into an outside neighborhood's house party to jam. You would go to the House Party with your whole crew, it eventually turned into a community showcase of all the different factions in the local area, but here you didn't compete with fists or weapons, at the house party your crew represented on the dancefloor. Each different crew had dance routines plus call & response phrases they would sound out during the best jams to the beat (one would say something fly and his crew would repeat it, or respond and it also had to be clever, catch everyone's attention). This would 'turn the party up' and get everyone going, and soon became as much a part of House music as the beats and melodies that everyone loved to hear. 'In the House' is Hypnotic's ode to that era, our band's attempt to explore the original principles of that style of music. We wanted to present it with our own Brass twist but definitely going back to the root of what it is the music was meant to display. HBE prides ourselves on being musical historians and enjoying the ability to explore ALL styles of music in our stage performances and albums. We touched on this with song 'Lets Get the Party Started' from our 2009 self-titled album. On this track we just took it a bit further, and gave the people something for dancefloor that they can bump in all elements of their life. It's always good when you can have fun while you work, and this track is one that's just as fun to play for us as it is for people to listen to. Also gives audiences a sneak peek into the Hypnotic Brass live concert and energy (right on wax), so it was natural to lead with this one as a single."
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2LP
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HJR 074LP
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2018 repress; Double LP version. With its cathedral-like, richly resonant acoustics, the new Hypnotic Brass Ensemble album Book Of Sound is a brilliant expression of this interplanetary principle. The album is by turns urgent and contemplative, funky and reflective, varied in its textures; but entirely of one piece. Underpinned by concepts of earth's place in the cosmos, held in place by meditation, swirling with notions of history, science, theology, ancestry, there is a rich conceptual brew here. The album rings with what back in the 1950s the jazz critic Whitney Balliet called "the sound of surprise". Book Of Sound makes you believe again in the validity of "spiritual jazz". Talking to Cid, one of the Ensemble's two trombonists, one phrase recurs: "back to the beginning". "We wanted to go back to the beginning, when we were kids, real young, and our father would wake us up at 5AM to practice for two hours before breakfast." One outcome -- initially unplanned but subsequently embraced -- is that unlike their two previous albums on Honest Jon's, this is an album without a drummer. "When we started, as Wolf Pack, just brothers on the street with our horns, there wasn't a kit in sight." Book Of Sound retains plenty of rhythmic heft, but the absence of a drummer opens up space for a notably varied instrumental palette. Acoustic guitar, piccolo, synthesizer, alto sax -- all have their place on the album. Most striking perhaps are the vocal lines that thread through the album and give it a palpable warmth. Sessions were recorded in Brooklyn and Chicago, and brilliantly mixed at Abel Garibaldi's studio in the Loop, and it's the Hypnotic's hometown that permeates. For Cid this is a deeply Chicago record: "It's got the vibe of the lake, the vibe of the prairies opening up to the west." It also has the vibe of those Sun Ra Arkestra albums recorded in Chicago in the 1950s, and -- of course -- the Phil Cohran albums from the 1960s. It's Phil Cohran (the father of all seven members of the Ensemble and their first teacher, and not just in music) who is the album's guiding spirit. For Cid it's a major regret that, in the months before their father's death early in 2017, Phil was not well enough to play on the album. But Book Of Sound is a magnificent testament to their Cohran legacy.
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CD
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HJR 074CD
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With its cathedral-like, richly resonant acoustics, the new Hypnotic Brass Ensemble album Book Of Sound is a brilliant expression of this interplanetary principle. The album is by turns urgent and contemplative, funky and reflective, varied in its textures; but entirely of one piece. Underpinned by concepts of earth's place in the cosmos, held in place by meditation, swirling with notions of history, science, theology, ancestry, there is a rich conceptual brew here. The album rings with what back in the 1950s the jazz critic Whitney Balliet called "the sound of surprise". Book Of Sound makes you believe again in the validity of "spiritual jazz". Talking to Cid, one of the Ensemble's two trombonists, one phrase recurs: "back to the beginning". "We wanted to go back to the beginning, when we were kids, real young, and our father would wake us up at 5AM to practice for two hours before breakfast." One outcome -- initially unplanned but subsequently embraced -- is that unlike their two previous albums on Honest Jon's, this is an album without a drummer. "When we started, as Wolf Pack, just brothers on the street with our horns, there wasn't a kit in sight." Book Of Sound retains plenty of rhythmic heft, but the absence of a drummer opens up space for a notably varied instrumental palette. Acoustic guitar, piccolo, synthesizer, alto sax -- all have their place on the album. Most striking perhaps are the vocal lines that thread through the album and give it a palpable warmth. Sessions were recorded in Brooklyn and Chicago, and brilliantly mixed at Abel Garibaldi's studio in the Loop, and it's the Hypnotic's hometown that permeates. For Cid this is a deeply Chicago record: "It's got the vibe of the lake, the vibe of the prairies opening up to the west." It also has the vibe of those Sun Ra Arkestra albums recorded in Chicago in the 1950s, and -- of course -- the Phil Cohran albums from the 1960s. It's Phil Cohran (the father of all seven members of the Ensemble and their first teacher, and not just in music) who is the album's guiding spirit. For Cid it's a major regret that, in the months before their father's death early in 2017, Phil was not well enough to play on the album. But Book Of Sound is a magnificent testament to their Cohran legacy.
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CD
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HJR 042CD
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Repressed. The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble is comprised of eight brothers from the south side of Chicago who come from an extraordinary musical family. Other sisters and brothers are professional musicians, their mothers are singers, and Phil Cohran, their father, has roots running back to Mississippi, the musical hothouse of 1940s St. Louis, Sun Ra in Chicago in the 1950s, and the founding of the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). At night when they went to bed, the children would hear their father rehearsing with his band the Circle Of Sound. They were wakened at 6 a.m. for several hours of music practice before going to school and were a central part of their father's Youth Ensemble. Meanwhile, they were also sneaking under the covers and listening to NWA and Public Enemy, later forming their first group, GWC (Gangsters With A Curfew), which morphed into Wolf Pak (Wolf Pak (Wolves on the look out for pigs and Klansmen)). By the end of the '90s, they brought together their musicianship, their jazz roots and their hip-hop sensibility, and made a living busking on the streets of Chicago, which honed their burgeoning skills as composers. (They wrote all of the tracks on this album except "Alyo," written by their father, and "Rabbit Hop," written by Moondog.) Eventually, the group transferred to New York City, and after playing out relentlessly, including gigs with Mos Def and Erykah Badu, and some particularly incendiary shows in Europe, they have come to be known as one of the hottest and most individual bands around. This album is the result of a chance encounter in 2005: during a cold market day on Portobello Road, strains of Ellington and the swagger of brassy funk cut through the morning fog. Stationed on the corner of Talbot Road, eight horns and a drum kit rocked Ladbroke Grove. Since their initial meeting, Honest Jon's and HBE have stayed close. In 2007, HBE contributed a monster of a track "Sankofa" to the Tony Allen remix project, Lagos Shake (HJR 034CD/LP), and have not stopped blowing minds since. In London, Lyon and New York, HBE tore it up both as leaders and in support of artists as diverse as Victoria Williams and Candi Staton, both rousing and tender in turns. Honest Jon's are proud to present the gorgeous, thrilling music of the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble.
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2LP
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HJR 042LP
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2023 restock; Double LP version. The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble is comprised of eight brothers from the south side of Chicago who come from an extraordinary musical family. Other sisters and brothers are professional musicians, their mothers are singers, and Phil Cohran, their father, has roots running back to Mississippi, the musical hothouse of 1940s St. Louis, Sun Ra in Chicago in the 1950s, and the founding of the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM)...This album is the result of a chance encounter in 2005: during a cold market day on Portobello Road, strains of Ellington and the swagger of brassy funk cut through the morning fog. Stationed on the corner of Talbot Road, eight horns and a drum kit rocked Ladbroke Grove. Since their initial meeting, Honest Jon's and HBE have stayed close. In 2007, HBE contributed a monster of a track "Sankofa" to the Tony Allen remix project, Lagos Shake (HJR 034CD/LP), and have not stopped blowing minds since.
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