I heard about this reissue (by a new Chicago label called Aestuarium) about a month ago but just finally picked it up, and oh my, what a piece of work this
is. Most probably have not seen it, so here's some detail gleaned from the Chicago Reader. Kind of an early Strata-East type record, deep and spiritual,
a great combination of the funk, free jazz and even bits of latin.
Philip Cohran & the Artistic Heritage Ensemble
-A long out-of-print debut album from the Affro-Arts Theater staple: an important but largely forgotten Chicago jazz group with strong soul leanings. Its recent release marks the debut of Hodge's new label, estuarium.
Cohran, who primarily played trumpet, worked with the Sun Ra Arkestra from the late 50s until the bandleader left town in 1961, and a few years later helped found the Association for the Advancement of Creative usicians. His Artistic Heritage Ensemble mixed African roots, funk, and soul grooves to make an unshakable foundation for extended, highly lyric improvisation. The
group included blues drummer Bob Crowder Jr., future Miles Davis guitarist Pete Cosey, and horn players Donald Myrick and Louis Satterfield, who went on
to the more accessible soul-jazz outfit the Pharaohs and later Earth, Wind & Fire.
Though Cohran's continued to perform, he's nowhere near as well-known as he should be. The lovingly packaged CD
reissue confirms that there's no excuse for this oversight. Cohran's main instrument on the album is the "Frankiphone," an amplified thumb piano of his own design, and the patterns he plays on it are the bones of the compositions. After hearing just once how the trombone and saxophone solos cascade over his mesmerizing riffs on "On the Beach," it becomes
obvious how much influence his work must have had on percussionist and composer Kahil El'Zabar.
Hodge stresses that Aestuarium is not a rare groove label -- that is, his releases aren't intended as fodder for sample-hungry DJs. "It's not a coincidence that I'm only doing CDs now," he says. His next release will most
likely be an early-70s album by Boscoe, a heavily political Chicago funk band that featured drummer Steve Cobb.
Matt
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