US brass band of brothers for Galway

Date Published: {J}

There are some gigs that stick with you, shows that justify the gamble you make when you fork out for a ticket. Without question, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble are worth a flutter. The Chicago based band make a welcome return to the Róisín Dubh on Thursday, April 15.

Band leader Gabriel ‘Hudah’ Hubert is in ebullient form as he gets ready to bring his band of brothers (eight in total) out on the road. He explains the practicalities of playing seven countries in 30 days.

“Pack light, don’t pick up too many souvenirs along the way,” he says. “You’ll find yourself paying a bunch of euros trying to think about everybody back home. Make your presents as small as possible, key chains and postcards and things like that!”

Hudah and his brothers are all sons of jazz musician of Kelan Phil Cohran, who played in the legendary Sun Ra Arkestra.

“Being part of a musical family, coming out of the womb you had an instrument in your hand,” he recalls. “The majority of us started playing around five years old; the youngest one started around three.”

“Early development was tutelage under our parents, mainly playing our father’s music,” continues Hudah. “Things that he wrote specifically for the band or things that he’d written already and thought we were advanced enough to perform.”

In 1999, Cohran’s eight sons started playing together under the name of Hypnotic Brass Ensemble. How did the name come about?

“One scenario is the fact that we would captivate people just from playing music,” says Hudah. “People would come from miles and miles and miles following the sound, not knowing where it was coming from but would trail it until they found the source.”

Indeed, the band is aptly named. This is music that draws the listener in, making a permanent impression and, the band hopes, injecting some positivity into the world.

“We’ve had people tell us that they were on their way home to commit suicide or they were having a bad day, or they had lost hope for humanity. By being entranced by our music it gave them hope for a better life, or made them see the future as not so dark and gloomy but as, potentially, something better for them and future generations.

“We’ve always left people wanting more after they hear us,” adds Hudah. “It’s never enough. I could tell you a million different scenarios on why we call ourselves Hypnotic.”

Another thing that strikes you about a Hypnotic Brass Ensemble concert is the complete lack of sheet music. This gives their shows a sense of spontaneity that the band are only too eager to act upon.

“With our father and his teachings, he never wanted his musicians to play on stage with stands and sheet music,” Hudah explains.

“Because what that does is put you in a box, as far as performing is concerned. As an artist the sky is supposed to be the limit, creativity is endless. If you’re playing the same music everyday and you’re playing it the same way, it is not growing. Music evolves, it grows like people do.”

Improvisation is a key part of jazz performance, something the Chicago octet does with aplomb.

“You might not want to play you solo the same, or you might want to add on another bridge, another breakdown. It’s free like that and all you have to is keep eye contact with the person on each side of you and y’all can expand yourself.”

Although steeped in musical heritage, the Hypnotic Brass ensemble are on a quest to constantly create something new.

“One thing our father always told us was that we are supposed to inspire,” says Hudah. “You always have to think of different ways; you can’t inspire something new if you’re dwelling on the old. You don’t forget about the old but you respect it in its proper place, and you build on that.”

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.